COVID-19 vaccines and food boxes were distributed at Augusta Mall Saturday with 260 people receiving a shot.
Of those vaccinated, 197 received the $100 incentive offered through the city of Augusta.
“Some of those 260 were booster shots, and those individuals did not qualify for the incentive. The incentive was just for those Richmond County residents who got either a first or second dose,” said Danielle Harris, the city’s public information manager. “Not all who received the COVID-19 vaccinations were Richmond County residents either.”
The Richmond County Health Department administered the vaccines while the Golden Harvest Food Bank distributed the food boxes.
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Harris added that the Richmond County Health Department was responsible for keeping track of, transporting and accounting for the incentives during the event.
“Each clinic (for these events) is responsible for the incentives,” Harris said.
A process is in place to make sure people do not get multiple vaccines or extra incentives through the gift voucher program.
Drivers’ licenses and vaccine cards are checked before the vaccinations were administered, she said.
At previous vaccination clinics only those getting their second dose could receive the $100 incentive, but the city changed the eligibility requirements on Oct. 30 to allow people getting the first shot to qualify for the incentive, according to the VAX-UP website.
“The incentive then in October was getting $100 if you were fully vaccinated. Now it is if you have had the first or second dosage,” she said.
Harris and the city of Augusta invited the media to the event through a press release sent via email on Wednesday, Nov. 17. It asked that members of the media RSVP, which “The Augusta Press” did, and at least one local television station was there. Media representatives, however, were not allowed to interview those receiving shots or food boxes at the event because of a corporate policy of the property management of Augusta Mall, and arrangements had not been made by the city for citizens to be interviewed.
“We do not allow ‘man on the street’ interviews,” Amy Dalton of Brookfield Properties, which manages the Augusta Mall, said.
Harris added that not only could citizens not be interviewed, and their names not used but that the city asked that their faces not be photographed and that no visible tattoos be shown to identify them.
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Volunteers with the Golden Harvest Food Bank gave out 250 food boxes to Richmond County residents during the event. People could get a food box without getting vaccinated.
Ed Chavis, the food bank’s Aiken warehouse manager, said that the Augusta warehouse/branch has been so busy with the needs of individuals in the Augusta area that he came across the river to help out.
Chavis said each box distributed contained dry goods, ham, milk and sweet potatoes. The food bank had distributed all its boxes prior to the clinic’s close at 2 p.m.
The next mobile vaccination clinics will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 2 at the Jamestown Community Center and Park on 3647 Karleen Roads and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4 at the Carrie J. Mays Family Life Center, 1014 11th Ave.
Ron Baxley Jr. is a correspondent for The Augusta Press.
