Vaccination Pilot Program Begins on Iron Range

MOUNTAIN IRON, Minn.– Mountain Iron is one of the places administering the COVID-19 vaccine to adults over 65 education and child care workers as part of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s new vaccine pilot program.

COVID-19 vaccinations are ramping up in St. Louis County with more than 10,000 shots given out so far. And over in Mountain Iron, the next step in vaccinations is starting off in a big way.

Mountain Iron-Buhl High School became a big vaccination clinic on Friday.  Mountain Iron is just one of nine sites part of the state’s effort to vaccinate all parts of Minnesota.

“It all came together very quickly. So we’re all thankful for the local support,” said Jason Clusman, State Incident Commander for the Mountain Iron Vaccination Site.

Local educators, child care providers, and people ages 65 and older are eligible to receive a shot at the site on Friday and Saturday. By the end of the weekend, they hope to give more than 1,000 people on the iron range the shot.

State officials say they hope to learn more from these pilot program sites on how to maximize wide scale roll out efforts.

“Best practices of what’s a good site flow? To make sure that participant’s experience is simple, straightforward, safe, and they feel comfortable riding all the way through the exit process,” said Clusman.

St. Louis County Public Health officials say part of the reason Mountain Iron was chosen: it’s a regional education center for northeast Minnesota.

All of the doses administered Friday were of the Pfizer vaccine. The supply came from Hibbing-Fairview, one of the storage hubs for the vaccine.

St. Louis County Health officials say no matter what the reason, it’s great to offer the vaccine to the people of the Iron Range.

“To have it in northern St. Louis [County] is nice because of lack of access to health care up here, people have to travel farther, so there is good reason to have it up here,” said St. Louis County Public Health Division Director Amy Westbrook.

The first staff member from the Mountain Iron-Buhl School to be vaccinated Friday was school councilor Amy Hultman.

“It was just so much overwhelming, just excited,” said Hultman.

Hultman feels blessed to see the shot go into her arm, and those of others in the area. She says it’s one step closer to being back in the classroom again.

“The best way we can do our jobs is to be around students and with students and this year that’s been challenging,” said hultman. “I think this will definitely ease the fears of many of my colleagues and staff here at this school and hopefully schools across Minnesota.”

Cory Kolodji is a science teacher at Chisolm High School and the first staff member from that school to get the shot, saying it’s his patriotic duty. When Kolodji found out he was going to get the vaccine earlier this week, it brought a wave of relief — and tears to his eyes.

“I didn’t know how much stress I felt of course because I’ve been teaching all year,” said Kolodji. “I didn’t realize until I felt the relief that I was going to get vaccinated. I didn’t realize how worried I was about it, I really didn’t.”

Appointments for next weekend will begin on Tuesday for those ages 65 and older. They can be made on the state’s website or through the state’s vaccine call center.