The critical moment in Audrain County’s effort to fend off the pandemic came when several offices pulled together and organized a series of successful mass vaccination clinics.

That’s the assessment of Audrain County Health Department administrator and CEO Craig Brace, who met with County Commissioners last Tuesday to recognize the county’s support in the fight against COVID-19 and review the measures taken.

“We were able to see a flattening of the curve during the peak after vaccines came available,” he said. Brace added that 52 of the 53 COVID-19 related deaths in the community occurred prior to the vaccination clinics.

The data does not include deaths at long term care facilities or the Women’s Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Vandalia.

Brace credited the “extraordinary” willingness between different offices and organizations to collaborate, first to respond to the pandemic and then to implement a vaccination plan.

“At no time did the Health Department feel we were alone in the effort,” he observed.

According to county Emergency Management director Nicholas Tietsort, the county had just four days from the moment they learned vaccines were available to the date set for the first mass vaccination clinic at the end of January.

In that time a location had to be selected, volunteers organized, details communicated with the public and more. Everything was coordinated with the military.

Walmart offered their lot for the first mass vaccination, as did Mexico High School. But the airport was secured with the help of the FAA.

When snow threatened to disrupt plans, city plows cleared the runways.

“Every agency we approached said ‘what do you need from us,’ ” Tietsort recalled. “One of the heroes was Tad Dobyns [of Central Missouri Community Action]. He was in charge of recruiting volunteers.”

Brace said it is impossible to put a number on lives saved by the combination of vaccinations and the mask advisory, but studies suggest that at the pandemic’s January peak in the county it could be as many as four per day.

The average age of the 53 community victims of COVID-19 was 89.

According to Brace, if the county’s daily active case number had reached 225 or more, ACHD would have approached the county and its communities to request a mask mandate. After a series of vaccination clinics, however, cases began to decline.

“What this has shown us is that we can rally the troops to respond to whatever pandemic comes our way,” he said.

That was the consensus of county officials. The response created a map of how to bring different organizations together in short order for a common purpose.

But, said eastern district commissioner Alan Winders, “I don’t want to do anything like this again.”