Photo by Carri Graham The Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System will hold a vaccination clinic for veterans Saturday at the former Sears building at the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville.

The Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System is helping to ensure military veterans are staying coronavirus-free by holding a vaccination clinic for local veterans Saturday at the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville.

The system is planning two seperate clinics in Belmont County for veterans to receive both required doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The vaccine requires two doses given approximately 21 days apart. The first dose of the vaccine will be administered Saturday, with another clinic date for the second dose inoculations set for April 10.

Shelly Kay Nulph, public and community relations manager for VAPHS, said they are hoping to administer around 600 doses of the vaccine during Saturday’s clinic. She said she is unsure how many openings are left to fill, but she urges eligible veterans to contact the Belmont County Veteran’s Affairs Outpatient Clinic to schedule an appointment.

Nulph said the clinic will be by appointment only. Veterans will be scheduled in the order in which they make contact for an appointment, she said.

Those eligible must meet the following criteria:

– Veterans 55 years or older;

– Eligible for and enrolled in VA health care;

– Receive health care at a VA Pittsburgh facility (including outpatient clinics);

– Have not had any vaccinations in the past 14 days.

At this time the system is unable to provide vaccinations to civilians, including spouses and dependents, or veterans who do not meet all of the criteria.

Nulph said veterans do not have to reside in Belmont County to be eligible; however, they must be involved with one of the localized VA facilities, including one of the two main campus facilities in Pittsburgh or one of the five outpatient facilities — four of which are in Pennsylvania while the fifth is located in St. Clairsville.

Nulph said the VAPHS is hoping that holding the large clinic will alleviate the wait time that many local veterans involved with the Belmont County VA have experienced in trying to obtain the vaccine.

“The county only gets so many shots each day and they were scheduling appointments pretty far out, so we wanted to come in and do one mass vaccine clinic to try to get as many veterans as we can vaccinated,” she said.

The Belmont County VA clinic will continue to provide vaccinations with what officials are hoping will be a shorter wait time for those wishing to receive a vaccination.

To schedule an appointment for Saturday’s clinic, call the Belmont County VA Outpatient Clinic at 740-695-9321.

“We hope veterans will give us a call, get an appointment and come in on Saturday. We have a good bit of room left, so we’re just hoping to try to make some more appointments before then,” Nulph said.

The appointment-based clinic will be held inside the former Sears building.