St. Cloud VA Health Care System

Sara Carmona, a VA nurse at the Brainerd VA Clinic, administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Veteran Larry Derksen of Staples on Jan. 14, 2021. The St. Cloud VA began vaccinating highest-risk outpatient Veterans on Jan. 11, and Derksen was among the first group of Veterans who receive their care at the Brainerd VA clinic to receive the vaccine. Larry stated, “This was the smoothest shot I’ve ever had. I’m ready for my second shot!”

The St. Cloud VA started vaccinating its highest risk outpatient Veterans with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 11. Through our Saturday clinic scheduled on Jan. 29, we will have vaccinated about 3,100 outpatient Veterans, including those served at the St. Cloud VAMC and at each of our three CBOCs. This risk group (Phase 1A) includes health care personnel and enrolled Veterans who are on dialysis, undergoing chemotherapy at a hospital or outpatient infusion center, have had a transplant, are homeless, or who are 85 and older.

We’ve also provided second doses to over 1,150 people in this risk group, including Community Living Center residents and VA healthcare personnel.

On Feb. 8, we will begin providing second doses to the initial outpatient Veteran population

The week of Jan 25-29 we began contacting the next risk group, or Phase 1B, which is largely comprised of individuals 75 or older. This risk group has over 9,000 local enrolled Veterans who will become eligible for vaccine. It will take several weeks to vaccinate this risk group.

We are scheduling enrolled Veterans using the initial CDC/VHA risk stratification guidance and are still in the initial, limited supply phase of the national plan. The amount of vaccine we are supplied with is the key factor driving our vaccination effort. We are dedicated to matching our vaccination effort to our supply rate and have planned to use our vaccine supply in the week in which it is received.

Our centralized vaccination model provides us a method to accomplish this aim. Most vaccinations will be given in one central location and Veterans must be scheduled for an appointment to get a vaccination. Vaccination appointments will be held in Bldg. 8 (Auditorium) at the St. Cloud VA Medical Center, or at one of the VA Clinic locations in Alexandria, Brainerd and Montevideo.

VA health care teams will contact enrolled Veterans who are eligible to get a vaccine during each phase of the nationwide distribution plan via letter. The letter will contain instructions on how to set up a vaccination appointment. There is no need to preregister or come to a facility to sign up.

Second-dose appointments will take place 4 weeks later.

Once your appointment is set, plan to arrive at the appointed time--that means do not come early or late because we have limited space and we need to maintain social distance!

Also, please do not come to or contact a VA facility to receive a vaccine until your appointment is scheduled. Vaccines cannot be provided to anyone who is not eligible based on national guidance for the current phase of vaccination that we are in.

Local public health officials may also offer certain individuals a COVID-19 vaccine. It’s your choice where you’d like to go to get a vaccine. But please know that both of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines have gone through the same safety reviews and both require 2 doses to be effective. You’ll need to get both doses at the same location.

If you decide to get a COVID-19 vaccine outside of VA, we encourage you to share this information with your VA health care team. You can send a picture of your vaccination record card to your VA provider through secure messaging. You can also add your vaccine information to your My HealtheVet health summary for your own records. To add your information, you’ll need a Premium My HealtheVet account. Learn more about managing your COVID-19 vaccine records online

To provide the best service to you please use these self-service tools:

• Update contact information* https://www.va.gov/change-address/

• Schedule or view appointments online https://www.va.gov/health.../schedule-view-va-appointments/

• Get email updates on COVID-19 vaccines https://www.va.gov/health.../covid-19-vaccine/stay-informed

• Read questions frequently asked about the COVID-19 vaccines https://www.va.gov/health-care/covid-19-vaccine/

• Enroll in VA Health Care https://www.va.gov/health.../apply/application/introduction

• Volunteer for VA’s COVID-19 research https://www.va.gov/coronavirus-research

*Important: Veterans are strongly encouraged to submit address changes through va.gov rather than My HealtheVet.