The Quinta Gamelin center will be the site this Saturday of the first Bristol vaccination clinic for local senior citizens, over the age of 75, who have not already received the vaccine through some other channel. Due to limited supply, the Town of Bristol  created a registry at the beginning of the month, and the vaccine will be offered to registered residents, by appointment, in reverse order of age.

Appointments have been made for the anticipated supply for this Saturday and next; the town’s Senior Services office is making calls to schedule appointments for the March 6 clinic. The 190-dose allotment for this week is expected to be the same at the Feb. 27 clinic; the number of does expected for March 6 is not yet known.

The over-75 registry is constantly changing. Once the rush of new registrants had slowed to a trickle, the list began to shrink as CVS and Walgreens began vaccinating, and people who received their vaccines from those outlets left the list — as many as 100 on Tuesday, after the long weekend. If you have recently received a vaccination from CVS or Walgreens and have not yet done so, the town asks that you call 253-1611 to have your name removed from the list.

While it’s difficult to predict how long this phase will last, Senior Services Director Mary Ann Quinn said that on Tuesday afternoon, after about 50 appointments had been scheduled into the March 6 clinic, her office was scheduling people who were 82 years old.

’UK Variant’ detected

The Rhode Island Department of Health announced Tuesday that the so-called UK variant of the virus had been found in three patients in Newport County, all since recovered and cleared isolation. “Nobody is surprised the variant is here,” Dr. James McDonald of the health department said, noting that the treatment is the same, widely available therapies including monoclonal antibodies are effective against it, and it is expected to respond to the vaccine. It is, however, more readily contagious.

“Upgrade your mask — the enemy just got a little stronger,” said Dr. McDonald. “Now more than ever, it’s really important to wear a high-quality face mask.” He noted the KN-95 is nearly as effective as the N-95, which is still in short supply as it is the gold standard for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the medical community. He also suggested double masking as a way to obtain a high-level of protection with widely available paper and cloth masks.

Vaccine rollout criticized

According to Rhode Island health department and federal CDC data available as of Feb. 14, Rhode Island was last in the nation for per-capita vaccination; further, as of Monday, some 80,000 doses provided by the CDC remained in storage, un-administered to Rhode Islanders.

Without offering any answer beyond saying that “we are doing what we can to speed this up,” Dr. McDonald pushed back at that criticism. “Counting doses is important, but people need to look at the outcomes. Outcomes are what matters.”

“I want to put the vaccine rollout in context,” he said. “The approach we took was very transparent. We pulled in certain occupations early on. Health care workers were exhausted. Now we have seen a 66 percent decline in cases among health care workers.”

"Before Thanksgiving our stats were showing that 100 percent of the population of Central Falls would have it by the end of January. Now new cases are way down.” He shared a graphic (pictured) that presents the case that when measured by hospitalizations rather than shots in arms, Rhode Island’s vaccination strategy has resulted in a better outcome than neighboring states, the U.S. average and West Virginia (included in this comparison because of recent news reports lauding their vaccine rollout).

State opens registration portal for under-75s

According to Ms. Quinn, the Town of Bristol may soon be relieved of the responsibility to manage the vaccine rollout locally. On Wednesday, shortly before press time, the state activated a registration portal for residents ages 65 and older, to be vaccinated through a combination of state-run and pharmaceutical partner clinics moving forward. Those will be in Providence and Cranston, with registration available through vaccinateri.org or by calling (844) 930-1779.

Town testing site hours change

Until further notice, the rapid testing site at the Bristol Town Beach will be open Thursdays from noon to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Residents are also encouraged to visit the asymptomatic testing site in the Barrington Shopping Center (the former Jos. A. Banks store) Tuesdays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Those who are symptomatic or requiring documentation should schedule a PCR test by visiting covid.ri.gov/testing.