Nearly 600 vaccinated

Nearly 600 residents of Quay County received COVID-19 vaccines last week, mostly during mass-vaccination events in the region.

Most of the vaccinations occurred Wednesday and Friday at the Tucumcari Convention Center.

About 250 received a shot during two sessions Wednesday.

Another 127 received a shot Friday, including nearly 70 walk-in patients, reported Quay County Family Health Center administrator C. Renee Hayoz. Others had registered for the inoculations.

Hayoz said health workers turned away a few people after 2 p.m. Friday because they lacked enough prepared vaccine and the event ended at that time. Defrosting and preparing the frozen vaccine takes time, she said.

Nearly 70 more shots also were administered Wednesday in Logan.

The health center also administered 90 booster shots last week. Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari administered 35 shots during that period.

Based on officials' reporting from the vaccine events and from two health clinics that have the vaccine, about 580 people received shots last week. Nearly all were of the Moderna variety.

Hayoz estimated 310 doses of the vaccine were leftover for her clinic after the Friday event. She said she's planning another mass-vaccination event for next week and will request another 100 doses. About 10 booster shots are planned for patients at her clinic this week.

Vickie Gutierrez, administrator and chief nurse executive at Trigg, said 50 vaccinations are scheduled there this week using the Moderna or single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

Gutierrez also said the hospital would be on the New Mexico Department of Health's vaccine registration site at https://cvvaccine.nmhealth.org. Trigg previously had been taking phone appointments for the vaccine because of technical difficulties with the DOH site.

"We encourage community members to register for their vaccine there, and they will be notified when an appointment is available," she stated in an email Friday.

Residents who have questions or would like support with vaccine registration - including those who do not have internet - can call 1-855-600-3453, press option 0 for vaccine questions, then option 4 for tech support. Users with other vaccine-related questions should call 1-855-600-3453 and press option 0.

According to the state's COVID-19 Dashboard, 26.1% of Quay County residents have received at least one dose of vaccine and 15.5% were fully vaccinated through Saturday. Both numbers were close to the state average.

Guadalupe County ranks No. 1 in the state with 47.7% of residents receiving at least one shot.

An estimated 24.5% of Quay County residents are registered with the state's website for the vaccine.

Statewide, more than 745,000 vaccine doses had been administered through Saturday. The total in the last seven days was more than 80,000, a slight decline from the previous week. According to federal data, more than 217,000 doses also have been received by the state's Native American health centers, federal Bureau of Prisons and Veterans Administration clinics.

The state's Department of Health announced Thursday that residents age 60 and older with chronic conditions that place them at risk for COVID-19 health complications would be given higher priority for vaccinations.

Four groups of New Mexico residents are eligible for the vaccine:

• Phase 1A (primarily health care workers);

• New Mexicans age 75 years and older;

• Educators, early childhood professionals and school staff;

• New Mexicans with a chronic health condition.

The full list of qualifying chronic health conditions is available at vaccineNM.org (users can click on "I want to create a new profile" to see the list). The list is divided into two sections: "Increased Risk Of Severe Illness" and "Might Be At Increased Risk." Going forward, residents age 60 and older with a chronic condition in the "Increased Risk of Severe Illness" category will be prioritized.

During a health briefing Thursday, Human Services Secretary David Scrase said he ordinarily would be more worried about a possible new outbreak of the disease in the wake of recent school reopenings, spring break and the upcoming Easter holiday.

"Without the vaccine, I'd be absolutely terrified," he said. "It's giving us room to do more."

Scrase added that more than 50 vaccinations are being administered in New Mexico per every new case of COVID-19 reported.