St. Cloud VA Making Changes to COVID Vaccination Program

(KNSI) – The Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System in St. Cloud is making a significant change in how it manages its vaccine program.

For the last four months, the St. Cloud VA has operated a centralized vaccination clinic but Starting today (Monday, May 3rd), the VA has moved to an outpatient model.

VA Communication Officer Barry Venable explained to KNSI’s Bob Hughes what the change means.

“The centralized clinic will be greatly reduced. We do still have some second doses that we will be giving in the auditorium. But for the most part, veterans will now be getting their vaccines in conjunction with other appointments, and all they need to do to request the vaccine if they have an appointment scheduled and say hey, I want a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Venable says the VA has administered 27,000 vaccine doses or 69-percent of the VA’s enrolled population.

Thanks to the Save Lives Act, the VA can also vaccinate unenrolled veterans and the spouses and caregivers of both enrolled and unenrolled vets.

Venable says the sooner he can get vets and the people around them protected from COVID-19, the sooner the VA Health Care System can get closer to normal operations.

“We really want to turn our attention to increasing the number of face to face visit and increasing the number of veterans in our nursing home and in mental health, our RTP program, and transitioning from this centralized vaccination model. to getting veterans through the front door is where we want to be.”

For more information on getting a vaccine or to schedule an appointment, call 320-252-1670 ext 6339 or click here.

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