Pueblo mass vaccination clinic sees mass cancellations

PUEBLO — A mass vaccination clinic hosted by Albertson's and Safeway pharmacies held in Pueblo on Thursday was capable of giving out 1,170 vaccines, but instead only vaccinated just under 600 people.

With snow and slick roads in Pueblo the morning of, many people canceled their appointments. Originally about 650 names were on the clinic's roster, but a couple of hours after they had opened the cancellations brought that number down to just over 500.

“Definitely, the snow has had an impact. We’ve seen some people cancel and, understandably why with not knowing if they could make it here, not knowing what the weather was going to really be like, so definitely it has had a small impact," said Director of Pharmacy Operations Nikki Price.

However, some still made a special trip just for clinic, like Jonothan Slaton who traveled all the way from the Denver area.

“There’s a lot of Safeways, but not a lot of appointments," said Slaton.

The clinic was located inside an empty store location located at 1545 S. Prairie Ave. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. According to Price, the pharmacies plan on continuing these clinics as the Governor opens news phases.

“I can’t speak to other pharmacies but, we certainly felt that it was very important that we were part of the solution. We really just want to help the community get back to normal as much as possible.”

According to the Pueblo Health Department, they announced earlier this week that the city's 65-year old and up population who choose to could be completely vaccinated as early as the end of this week.

When Gov. Jared Polis originally announced that teachers and those 65+ could begin receiving vaccinations, many expected a roll-out backup, as Pueblo was still in the process of vaccinating the 70+ population.

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