Pet vaccinations to proceed with precautions

The annual Nome pet vaccination clinic will be held at the Animal House from Monday, November 30 through Saturday, December 5. Animal House owner Sandra Rowe said that the clinic will occur as usual, but they are taking a few extra precautions and may adjust further due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Nome.

Rowe said the plan is to minimize the number of people in the space as much as possible. For instance, to limit the number of people waiting in line there will be multiple vaccination rooms with a vaccinator in each, rather than a single room. Each room will have an entrance and exit route so as to have “one way” foot traffic into the building. One benefit about operating in a medical space is that sanitation was already a focus. Rowe explained that “because we’ve always been diligent in sanitizing areas between customers, our sanitizing efforts don’t have to change much to accommodate for the threat of COVID-19.”

While this is the current plan, Rowe said that they may adjust due to the recent uptick of COVID-19 cases in town. She pointed out that it is not necessary for pet owners to be present for the vaccinations. Therefore, “depending on how the COVID situation looks in another week, we may turn the pet vaccination clinic into a ‘drive up’ or ‘curbside service’ clinic where people can drive up, call us on the phone to go over records and payment, and we can go outside to retrieve their pet for vaccine administration.” Rowe explained that this would further minimize physical interaction between people.

Rowe said the Animal House is still holding the clinic because it is very important for pets to be vaccinated. But she also noted that if people are concerned about the amount of other people in the clinic, the Animal House offers vaccinations year-round and always has the option of curbside services.