LYNN — More than 400 veterans received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Breed Middle School Saturday thanks to a partnership between the Lynn Veteran Services Office, the Lynn Public Health Department, and the Bedford Veterans Association.
One of the first clinics in Massachusetts to offer the vaccine to veterans as young as 50, any veteran currently enrolled in VA Healthcare was eligible to sign up for an appointment.
“It’s been great. Even though it’s a federal agency coming in, I think their goal is to have a light footprint and do a lot of it themselves,” said Lynn-Swampscott Veterans Services Director Michael Sweeney. “We’ve had a lot of coordination from the city with the police, the fire (department), and even DPW setting up signs telling everyone where to park. It’s been good to be a part of (this effort).”
The clinic has been groundbreaking for multiple reasons, said VA Bedford Public Affairs Officer Kat Bailey, who noted that the Bedford VA was one of 37 initial sites selected by the national Veterans Association to receive the vaccine, the first dose of which was administered to 96-year-old World War II veteran and Bedford resident Margaret Klessens on Dec. 14.
“We have been planning and planning and planning to come up with the best possible way (to do this), and settled on what we have here today,” Bailey said. “We’re proud to be Bedford and proud to be able to administer vaccinations and enroll veterans as long as we have vaccinations available to give, and so far, we have plenty.”
VA Healthcare eligibility specialists were also on call throughout the day to assist veterans who were unable to sign up for an appointment with completing applications for health care benefits.
While he sat in a post-injection area set up to allow staff to monitor patients for potential side effects, Navy veteran and Lynn resident Rohan Riley said he’d experienced some feelings of apprehension in the days leading up to his appointment.
“There’s just that thought,” he said. “It’s not a trust issue, it’s just the unknowing, basically.”
However, with his first vaccination now out of the way, Riley, whose sights are now set on a post-COVID future, said he looks forward to visiting his mother, 82, in Boston.
“You just want everything to go back to some kind of normalcy,” he said.
Others weren’t so worried. As he also waited for staff to approve him to leave, James Ball, a Vietnam Air Force veteran and Lynn resident, seemed to be taking the occasion in stride.
“I’ve gotten so many shots, it doesn’t bother me anymore,” he said with a laugh. “I feel great.”
Sweeney noted that veterans who are not enrolled in VA Healthcare or do not currently receive care at VA can reach out to the Lynn Swampscott Department of Veterans’ Services, or visit the VA’s web page at https://www.va.gov/health-care/eligibility/.
