HUNDREDS VACCINATED
People aided in the past by NOAH get invitations
Merry Cid, 59, has only been to a handful of places outside of her home since the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees last year.
She takes care of her 89-year-old mother full-time, and that has meant sacrifice.
“I gotta protect her, I can’t be going out and being irresponsible,” she said.
She said it’s “scary” that there are people, even almost a year into the pandemic, who do not follow mitigation guidelines and do not take the virus
seriously.
“It just boggles my mind that they’re not taking this serious when people are dying,” she said.
Cid said she’s been extremely careful since the outbreak began and wishes that everyone else would do the same.
“I respect the pandemic, I understand the severity, I take it very serious so we have been isolated for a long time now, since this all started,” she said.
As part of the responsibility she feels both to her mother and the larger community, Cid was one of hundreds who received a shot during a drive-thru mass vaccination event at NOAH Venado Valley Health Center in north Phoenix on Wednesday.
The event was open to those who have received care at a NOAH (Neighborhood Outreach Access to Health) facility in the past.
The center said it reached out individually to its patients through methods such as postcards, text messages and phone calls to offer them an appointment to receive the vaccine.
Cid, though, took the initiative to call them herself before they reached her. She was signed up to take her mother to State Farm Stadium to receive a vaccine, but said she was leery.
“It scared me to death,” she said. “I couldn’t comprehend the enormity of it all.”
So she called NOAH and very quickly got registered for the Wednesday event.
She spoke to The Arizona Republic while sitting in her car in the 15-minute recovery zone after receiving her shot.
“I’m elated,” she said, adding that she will still be “totally cautious” and follow all guidelines because the vaccine is “not 100% foolproof.”
It only took a few minutes for Cid to get through the line of vehicles to receive her shot and move on to the recovery zone.
“It’s been unbelievable,” she said. “They’ve been incredibly organized and sweet. We get lollipops, we get food, we get a sticker, we get a pen. I’m so grateful that we’re able to come here because they’ve been amazing.”
“Didn’t even feel the shot”
Mary Stenzel, 79, got a call from NOAH saying she could receive the vaccine if she wanted to, though she told The Republic she wasn’t sure at first.
She’d heard disinformation about the vaccine that made her wonder if she should take it, but she said after considering that three people in her building have died of COVID-19 within the last few months, she decided getting vaccinated was the right thing to do.
“I’ve got it done, and I’m glad I did it,” she said.
Stenzel lives by herself in a one-bedroom apartment, and said that though she was typically home most of the time prior to the pandemic, it forced her to stay at home whether she wants to or not.
She said the pandemic “hasn’t hampered me at all,” and she hopes the arrival of the vaccine will help those whose lives have been upended by the virus.
“We need to get back to normal — whatever normal was,” she said.
Stenzel said the process of getting her shot and making it to the recovery zone only took about three minutes. She said she “didn’t even feel the shot” and did not report any immediate side effects.
Stenzel said she hopes those who are debating whether or not to get the vaccine ultimately decide to do so.
“I pray they come to their senses and do the right thing ... if they want to be here longer,” she said.
‘There’s a lot of suffering’
Wednesday marked the fifth day NOAH offered a drive-thru mass vaccination event at that location, according to NOAH Director of Advanced Practice Alicia Ottmann.
As of Wednesday, they were only serving patients in the 1A and 1B priority groups, which include healthcare and education workers as well as adults age 65 and older. They had the capacity to administer 250 Moderna vaccines per day, but Ottmann said that number is expected to increase to 360 per day next week.
Ottmann acknowledged the accessibility issues many have been facing when it comes to getting the vaccine, and said the NOAH team has worked to overcome those barriers.
For example, registration is done completely over the phone, instead of online, so that those who do not have or cannot use a computer are not overlooked. Ottmann added that the entire NOAH crew was bilingual and prepared to serve each patient in the language they prefer, so as to avoid any language barriers.
The effort the team put into making the mass vaccination events happen has paid off, Ottmann said.
“We’ve seen that in the gratitude of our patients coming through,” she said. “Some of them are in tears after receiving their vaccine because it’s been such a trying process.”
“When they finally get that shot in the arm, I think it’s a relief and they talk about being able to see their grandkids again, being able to go to work and feel a little bit safer, so it’s been really rewarding to see.”
She said “there’s a lot of suffering going on right now,” which prompted NOAH to consider each patient’s general well-being aside from the vaccine. That’s why NOAH staff on Wednesday handed out bags of food provided by Desert Mission Food Bank.
It’s things like that that make Cid supremely grateful.
“Thank God for everybody here that is working and how sweet they’ve been and how kind they’ve been,” she said. “It’s just been a blessing, it’s been a blessing.”
Further information on the NOAH vaccine events can be found on the facility’s website or by calling 480-8824545.
You soon will start seeing Solos zipping around town, and perhaps more of them if Arizona lands a factory to assemble the one-seat, three-wheel electric cars.
It’s between the Nashville and Phoenix metro areas for landing an assembly plant and engineering technical center that could bring 200 jobs initially and closer to 500 eventually, said Paul Rivera, CEO of parent ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp.
The Vancouver-based corporation has started production at a factory in China and plans to deliver the first shipments of vehicles to customers during
the first half of 2021, he said. The company eventually plans to shift much of the production to a plant in the U.S., with the winning location announced later this month.
The company started putting Solos on display in Arizona last year and is marketing them directly to consumers over the internet. ElectraMeccanica shares trade on Nasdaq.
Taking Solos for a spin
Meanwhile, the company has conducted test drives in Arizona and elsewhere, primarily for people who put down refundable $250 deposits. The vehicles, which are licensed as motorcycles and can get charged via conventional electrical outlets, retail for $18,500.
“It’s a very fun car,” said Tim Gunderson, a financial adviser who took a Solo for a test drive in Scottsdale on Feb. 5. “I’ve never driven anything like it.”
Still, Gunderson, who is working remotely in Scottsdale for several weeks, said he probably wouldn’t buy one. He lives full time in Indiana, and a “threewheel car in the snow might not be so great.”
However, Don Jackson, a Phoenix resident who supplements his income by making food deliveries, said he probably will buy a Solo.
“It’s got a lot of pep, and it handled good,” said Jackson, 71, who used to ride motorcycles for decades but recently gave them up.
People driving Solos must get used to sitting low and relying on their two side mirrors because there’s no rear-view mirror in the middle.
The car’s seat is compact but comfortable.
Rivera said Solos are ideal for commercial deliveries, repair personnel and other entities that operate fleets of single-driver vehicles, especially if social distancing is a concern.
The cars have a range of about 100 miles between charges.
Arguments for Arizona factory
Rivera, who lives in Phoenix, said the key arguments in favor of building an assembly plant here include the availability of engineers and other workers, a moderate cost of living, an expanding supply chain and good logistical connections including access to freeways.
Also, Arizona has gotten an important
jumpstart in electrical vehicle manufacturing with Lucid Motors and Nikola Corp., both of which are building factories and ramping up in Pinal County.
But most of the same arguments could be made for the Nashville area, which also sits in a region of conventional car manufacturing.