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Montana VA vaccinates 10,000th veteran

Missoulian - 5/20/2021

Montana passed another milestone Wednesday in the push to vaccinate the state's population, as the 10,000th veteran in the state received a shot at a Missoula clinic.

Kent Stewart, 54, a veteran who spent time in both the Army and the Marines during his 16-year military career, received his COVID-19 vaccine from the Montana Veterans Administration Health Care System at the David J. Thatcher VA Clinic.

He was a little nervous, having reacted negatively to a different vaccine in the past, but was feeling fine about the shot on Wednesday, he said.

"I want to set a good example for my family, because they have turned anti-vax since I got sick," Stewart said. "Maybe I can change their mind."

He did a large amount of research on the Moderna vaccine before getting it and was confident in his decision, he said.

"I hit the internet hard. I dug into all of them."

National data shows there is some hesitancy around the COVID-19 vaccine in the armed forces.

In April, CNN reported that around one-third of U.S. military members had opted out of the vaccine, and a military health care source in the story said the number may be higher.

The two biggest questions hesitant veterans ask are whether the vaccine has been tested properly and if there are GPS trackers in it, said Katie Beall, a Montana VA spokesperson.

Each week the Montana VA hosts a town-hall style question and answer session regarding the vaccine, said Tiny Hudson, VA clinic manager for Missoula, Kalispell, Cut Bank and Hamilton. Misinformation has been a constant fight.

The logistics behind providing vaccines and getting them to the right places has also been a challenge. At the beginning of vaccination efforts, vials were coming from just three places — Billings, Fort Harrison and Miles City.

"Once we found out how much we were going to have, we could open up the schedule to start scheduling visits, but we had to find out how much vaccine was available to us," Hudson said. "Then we had to make sure we had both the first and second dose."

The VA has made thousands of phone calls to try to schedule appointments for veterans, starting with the state's oldest population.

During an initial push to fill a clinic in Kalispell, they made more than 1,000 calls to veterans to find 400 who wanted to schedule a vaccine appointment, Hudson said.

To reach 10,000 in the state was no small effort. In some cases, vaccine actually had to be flown out to more remote and rural areas.

Other challenges have been finding places large enough to do vaccination clinics as well as staffing those events. Missoula is winding down its large veteran clinics, but appointments and smaller events would continue on, Hudson said.

"For me, it means we are taking care of veterans and they can actually come to us for the vaccine," Hudson said. "The fact that we actually, ourselves, vaccinated that many veterans I think is amazing, especially logistically just getting everybody into the locations.

"I think that's pretty huge for us."

The VA is also able to vaccinate spouses and caregivers of veterans, which they're working to spread the word about.

Hudson was impressed and happy with the response she's received from the VA community to make the clinics happen, he said.

"I'm pretty sure every clinic has had someone from a different clinic come help," Hudson said. "It's not just nursing, we've had mental health to help with screening ... it takes all of us to get it done."