OLYMPIA, Wash. — Volunteers are trying a new strategy to get vaccines to Thurston County's homeless population.
In a partnership headed up by the Olympia Free Clinic, volunteer nurses are heading to homeless encampments to administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to anyone who wants it.
The doses came from Providence hospitals. Volunteer nurses visited an encampment along Deschutes Parkway, not far from the state Capitol on Wednesday.
George Openiano was eager to get the vaccine. He said it was the only way his family would let him hold his new grandson.
Nurses are intentionally giving out the one-dose vaccine because people at the encampment may not be in town when they're due for a second dose.
Nurses are giving basic medical care, and what they're calling "recovery kits" to help with the side effects of the vaccine, including a sleeping bag, Tylenol, snacks and water.
Health officials said it's difficult to get people who are reluctant about vaccines to come to a clinic, which is why it's so important to go to them instead.
"It's crucial, it's what will make it successful because best practice working with people in encampments is to literally meet them where they're at," said Keyley Marineau with Thurston County Public Health.
Thurston County will be sending volunteer nurses to other encampments around the county in the coming weeks. Nurses will return to the encampment on Deschutes Parkway in the summer in the hopes the some who refused the vaccine on Wednesday will have changed their minds.