Brigham City Community Hospital hosts vaccine clinic

BRIGHAM CITY, Utah — The Brigham City Community Hospital and the Bear River Health Department teamed up for a vaccine clinic on-site after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Staff at the hospital said the hope was that by teaming up with the Bear River Health Department now, they might be able to reach more people who might have been hesitant before.

Only about 20,000 people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Box Elder County, and if you expand that to the health district’s whole area, which includes Cache and Rich counties, that number goes up to about 76,000 — around 51% of the population.

The hospital’s director over infection prevention, John Nelson, said it’s hard to know why some people remain hesitant but added that the transmission rate here in Box Elder County remains high.

“Maybe they think that being in a rural area they’re somehow not going to be exposed,” he said. “Or the threat is not here. But the threat is here.”

In fact, he says the risk of getting COVID-19 in Box Elder County is the same as in Salt Lake County.

A handful of people showed up today to get their vaccine, including Tamara Huff. She works at the hospital and had been waiting to see how others reacted to the vaccine first. She decided Wednesday it was time and the clinic was convenient.

“I think maybe some folks were on the fence a little bit,” she said. “I think you do have to make your own conscious choice to do it but it is good and helpful to everyone around us. We should take care of each other.”