COVID Vaccination Clinic

ICAM hosted a successful COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at 125 Live, Elton Hills Dr NW, Rochester on April 23, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 PM.  This campaign was organized to implement the recommendation of the Health Clinic Webinar that ICAM had staged in February 2022 - a shining example of its outreach operations to Rochester communities as part of  Project Healings.  Our purpose was to bring the vaccines straight to targeted communities and to showcase vaccination as an effective tool to fight and halt the spread of COVID.  This was appealing to people who wanted to avoid the inconveniences of prior registration and queuing up in front of clinics and hospitals. We succeeded in bringing vaccination to our neighborhoods.    

Arrangements were made through the Minnesota Department of Health and the MN Homeland Clinic (the key sponsors) to administer all three COVID vaccines, i.e., Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.   The first and second doses as well as both booster shots were made available. Facilities were also in place for vaccinating children from five years and up..  A fully equipped mobile team of specialists, experts, and registered nurses were present to administer the vaccine.  Vaccinated people were also provided with new COVID passports and also updated existing records. The MDH also updated the Minnesota state health records on the spot. Over 25 people from all walks of life benefited from this vaccination camp.     

Separate teams from the Minnesota Department of Health and the MN Homeland Health had joined from Minneapolis to roll out this clinic. The Diversity Council was another major sponsor of this event. The Rochester non-profit, IMAA also supported ICAM’s initiative.     

Extensive publicity was given to this campaign through posters and flyers at many prominent places and centers of worship in different parts of the city as well as through social media. We had also sought and ensured that popular Rochester news and visual media like KTTC, Post Bulletin, Rochester Radio, Kaal TV, etc. gave wider publicity to ICAM’s COVID Clinic and carried reports.    

It was a novel idea to use the COVID platform to reach out to the mainstream population, which would at the same time give publicity and visibility to ICAM’s activities .   It also provided us an opportunity to promote ICAM’s larger mission and vision.  The venue was again appropriate to our objective.  Live 125 receives daily hundreds of Rochester public, particularly those involved in the society at large like young cultural activists, games and sports enthusiasts, fitness and aerobic groups, youths attending training programs, artistes, seniors, users of the library, and participants at workshops, conferences, etc.   

Ajay Singh, President of ICAM, and other office bearers personally supervised the arrangements from early morning. Signboards and posters were placed on curbsides of nearby roads to guide visitors to the Clinic. Young volunteers from the Indian community were also there to support this noble cause.  ICAM appreciated the support and services of our youth with participation certificates. ICAM had also made provisions to give refreshments to the visitors at the camp.  In appreciation of their participation and support, ICAM rewarded those who received the shots with gift-cards of $25 each.    

We all can feel proud of staging a pivotal event like this, winning the support of both the government and several major institutions. When we compare reports of MDH Clinics in some other cities with single digit turn-out, ours was an exemplary success story. The need for repeating our initiative and valuable experience cannot be overemphasized. Showcasing similar challenges can strengthen ICAM’s objectives and to expand its scope. ICAM is blessed with some of the best talents especially in medical and engineering spheres.  We have been encouraged to explore replicating our current success to specific sectors like Rochester School District, in order to bring vaccination to all ages, from five and up, for securing our neighborhoods against COVID.  As was laid out during our Health Clinic Webinar, it is unknown how long COVID is going to stay as a menace to lives, workplaces and schools.  Everyone must, therefore, take it more seriously like Dr Anthony Fauci cautioned on April 27, 2022, “The world is still in a pandemic. There is no doubt about that. Don’t anybody get any misinterpretation of that. We are still experiencing a pandemic”.  ICAM can take pride in our capabilities  and resolve ourselves to go many extra miles.