Omaha homeless shelter gets national attention for Covid vaccinations

(Omaha, NE) -- An Omaha homeless shelter is one of the first in the United States to offer Covid vaccinations to homeless residents and staff.

Nebraska Methodist College and the Douglas County Health Department provided 70 doses of vaccine to frontline staff and residents at the Open Door Mission, and are getting national attention.

The shelter has maintained strict Covid-19 preventive measures, and has a less than 1-percent positive Covid rate among residents and staff.

The presidential employee in charge of the U.S. Council on Homelessness is impressed with the success, and now the vaccination clinic.

“Mathematically, this place should have been devastated,” said Dr. Robert Marbut Jr., executive director of the U.S. Council on Homelessness. “You know... If you go back a year, we were talking about it. That’s what every prediction was. And what (Gregory) did: She was very strict. And these protocols — she put it in early; she followed them. It has paid off, and it has saved lives.”

WOWT-TV 6 News reports Marbut came to Omaha to help with the vaccination clinic.

“It was great! It is so cool, it’s just a miracle how fast this has been developed, and it’s already getting into arms,” Marbut said.

Screenshot: Clinton Pope receiving his first dose of the Moderna vaccine Wednesday at Open Door Mission from WOWT.


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