Mercy Iowa City has once again partnered with Rural Health & Safety of Eastern Iowa to host a free COVID-19 vaccination clinic, while supplies last, encouraging rural communities to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated against COVID-19.

On Saturday, July 3, the vaccination clinic will take place at 2765 500th St. SW in Iowa City, located at the Historical Sharon High School/Community Center grounds. The clinic will run from 12-2 p.m. following the Sharon Center Independence Day Parade. Community members will be vaccinated on a first come, first serve basis.

Mercy Iowa City and Rural Health & Safety of Eastern Iowa have partnered multiple times to provide COVID-19 testing sites, with great success in communities like Kalona and Muscatine. With Mercy clinics in many rural communities, organizers with both Mercy Iowa City and Rural Health & Safety of Eastern Iowa are hoping to see similar success with their first collaborative COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

One Johnson County farmer says he received his COVID-19 vaccine to keep his community and himself safe from the virus, especially as variants become increasingly more concerning. He hopes to encourage others to get vaccinated and help his community reach herd immunity.

"Masking and social distancing have worked in decreasing our risk [of contracting COVID-19], but the next step is vaccination, which I was glad to receive," said Nyle Kauffman, MD, a retired physician and Johnson County farmer. "My getting vaccinated not only helps me but the people around me, because I will be less likely to infect them. I value being part of a healthy community."

People are encouraged to call Rural Health & Safety of Eastern Iowa at 319-530-6002 for more information. Thank you to Johnson County Public Health, RX4 Prevention and Rural Health & Safety of Eastern Iowa for their leadership and willingness to help with this important initiative.

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About Mercy Iowa City

Mercy Iowa City is an acute care hospital and regional referral center for southeast Iowa. Mercy has received: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) 5 Star Rating as a Top 2% of all hospitals for the 5^th consecutive year, the only hospital in Iowa to do so; the Fortune IBM/Watson Health 100 Top Hospital ranking; the accredited Chest Pain Center with the American Heart Association Gold Plus Achievement Award for Stroke Care; the Top 100 Community Hospitals Award in 2018 and 2019 from Becker’s Review; the Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award for Mercy’s Emergency Care Unit by achieving 95 percent for patient experience for 13 consecutive years; and the Center of Distinction Award from Healogics for Mercy’s Wound and Vein Center. Mercy has 234 acute care beds, 25 private rooms for outpatient surgery, a 26-bed nursery with Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, 28 primary and specialty care clinics, a medical staff of 250 physicians representing all major medical specialties and most subspecialties, and 1,350 employees. It was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1873 and became an affiliate of MercyOne in 2017. To learn more visit www.mercyiowacity.org.