Daniel Neal didn t have plans to receive the COVID-19 vaccine that day.
But when an outreach coordinator with Primary Health Care in Des Moines woke him up in his tent that morning, he changed his plans so quickly that he left his wallet, phone and cigarettes behind to go get his jab.
Soon after receiving his shot of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Neal, 37, said he felt good aside from waiting to turn into a zombie or not, he joked.
Neal was one of the first Iowans experiencing homelessness to be vaccinated through Primary Health Care s mobile clinic Thursday.
The clinic was part of a new wave of targeted vaccination clinics created in Iowa to address gaps in access or willingness to accept the pandemic-ending vaccines. The vaccines, which were of very limited supply until recently, have become so plentiful in recent weeks that the state has declined some available doses from the federal government and counties have declined some from the state.