{"id":39550,"date":"2021-03-01T11:09:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T11:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/03\/01\/this-is-what-its-like-for-troops-serving-at-a-mass-vaccination-site\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:36:27","slug":"this-is-what-its-like-for-troops-serving-at-a-mass-vaccination-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/03\/01\/this-is-what-its-like-for-troops-serving-at-a-mass-vaccination-site\/","title":{"rendered":"This is what it\u2019s like for troops serving at a mass vaccination site"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LOS ANGELES \u2015 Hundreds of active-duty and National Guard troops<\/a> are strapped in for what could be a long ride at Los Angeles\u2019s mass COVID-19 vaccination center<\/a>, giving up to 6,000 doses a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some were volunteers and some were pulled from their civilian jobs to run the site, but for the foreseeable future, they\u2019ll be working for the Defense Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency push to get hundreds of thousands inoculated every day<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey told me I could be here until September, so we\u2019ll see,\u201d said Senior Airman Samantha Campos, an unmanned aerial vehicle crew chief, who staffs a drive-up vaccine lane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this site, set up in an outdoor parking lot at California State University, Los Angeles, Angelenos with appointments drive up, check in, get their shot and then spend at least 15 minutes in their car, in case of an adverse reaction, or just to shake off their nerves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne lady came in and she was very afraid of needles, so I had her roll her passenger-side window down, and I just asked her about what color her shoes were, and she was like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m done already,\u2019 ” Campos told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In just over a week up and running, there haven\u2019t been any medical emergencies, though psychologically, the unknown has been ever-present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLuckily for us, all of our medical incidents have really been anxiety-based,\u201d said Army 2nd Lt. Taylor Nehlig, a registered nurse at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, who was vaccinated in mid-December and volunteered to come out to California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supervising six drive-up lanes, Nehlig said she\u2019s answered a lot of questions for patients, or helped them through breathing exercises to calm their fears, assuring them that the site is full of emergency medical technicians, medics and nurses to respond if anything goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve seen all three sides of COVID,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen people at their most fearful, when they\u2019re getting swabbed \u2026 and then, the past eight or nine months I\u2019ve been actually working on a COVID floor, so I\u2019ve seen people at their weakest. And now we come here and see people in their most joyful moments, of getting the vaccine and finally, a breath of relief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t