30,000 Vaccinations Administered at Reser Stadium Clinics April 2, 2021 Samaritan Health Services and its partners, Benton County Public Health and Oregon State University, celebrated the 30,000th COVID-19 vaccination administered at Reser Stadium on Friday, April 2. The partnership has operated 20 vaccination clinics at Reser Stadium since Jan. 26. As eligibility has expanded to include Phase 1b group 7, and vaccine allocations across the state have increased, the Reser clinics have extended operations to three days a week. “Reaching this 30,000 vaccinations milestone is awesome. This number represents nearly one-third of the Benton County population,” said April Holland, Benton County public health administrator. “Benton County has led the vaccination rates of seniors in Oregon for the last handful of weeks, and moving our eligibility dates up for groups 6 and 7 is another way to move closer to reaching our target of vaccinating all adults who want a vaccine by the end of May.” “This is an exciting accomplishment in just a few months’ time,” said Larissa Balzer, associate vice president of Strategy and Planning for Samaritan. “When we first started thinking about mass vaccination clinics, Reser Stadium immediately came to mind due to its large, covered open-air concourse. We’ve learned a lot and made refinements along the way, but this has been a wonderful facility and these clinics wouldn’t be possible without our partnership with Benton County and OSU.” Samaritan and Benton County have administered both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines at the Reser clinics and a limited amount of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be introduced this coming week. “This remarkable milestone has been achieved thanks to the strong collaboration of Samaritan Health Services and Benton County,” said Steve Clark, OSU vice president of university relations and marketing. “Oregon State University is committed to work with local, county and state public health partners in the months ahead to help inform and support the opportunity for all Oregonians to be vaccinated so our communities and state can be healthier and safer.” Mass vaccination clinics will continue at Reser into the foreseeable future as eligibility will open to all Oregonians 16 and older by May 1. To schedule an appointment, visit samhealth.org/GetTheVaccine.
