On March 2, 2021, Dr. Karen Heupel, Aviation Safety Manager at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (AAM-700), became the first employee of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center to receive a vaccination for the SARS-CoV-2 at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute Clinic.
Since then, over 488 COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered to Aeronautical Center employees using the Pfizer formula. Fortunately, since the program began, no vaccines have gone unused at the CAMI Clinic. Thanks to a partnership with the Oklahoma County Public Health Department, the program has run smoothly. Dr. Heupel has had no side effects from the injection, and the second round of vaccinations has already begun. She said, "After my second vaccine I felt a little tired for about a day and a half, and I had a sore arm for 3 days." Other than that, Dr. Heupel is doing fine.
CAMI receives many vials that contain about six doses worth of vaccine. There are specific time limits for how long the vial is good for after it has been mixed, so they have to track the times very carefully. CAMI assesses patients for medical conditions/past vaccination history, to mitigate adverse reactions to the vaccine. They must also document the vaccines in the Oklahoma State Immunization Information System (OSIIS), which then feeds information to the CDC.
At this time, the CAMI Occupational Clinic is offering COVID-19 vaccinations to federal employees, and they are voluntary. Oklahoma is in Phase 3 (critical infrastructure) expecting to advance to Phase 4 on Monday, March 29th. CAMI is in need of volunteers to be on stand-by, in case there are extra vaccines available at the end of the day. If you’re interested in getting on the stand-by list, please provide CAMI with your name and phone number, as long as you’re able to be at the clinic within a half an hour’s notice.
For employees who may have received a vaccine off-Center premises and would like to be added to CAMI’s database, please contact them via their organization’s inbox email: 9-AVS-AAM-700-CAMI-Clinic@faa.gov or by calling the CAMI Occupational Clinic at (405) 954-3711.
Be sure to provide your name, organizational routing symbol, email address and phone number. Once vaccines are available at the CAMI Clinic, those on the list will be sent an email to sign up for an appointment time, according to Oklahoma Phasing Criteria and FAA priorities. For second doses, employees on the list will be sent a separate email for those second vaccination appointments.
The good news is that Oklahoma is beginning to see a decline in hospitalizations for COVID as the vaccines are distributed.
If you have any questions, feel free to check out the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
