Cayce, SC – 02/26/2021 (Paul Kirby) – Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lou and Bill Kennedy’s Nephron Pharmaceutical and their team have taken an active role in helping fight this horrible virus. From quickly adding lines for making hand sanitizer to other important tasks, they have been leading the way in doing what a corporation should do to support the citizens of the county, cities, and state around them in a crisis. Now, they’ve teamed up with their neighbor, Dominion Energy, to do even more. They have set up and are running a COVID-19 vaccination site that's clicking along like a fine timepiece.
This week, Governor Henry McMaster visited Nephron to review their and Dominion Energy’s efforts. Their assistance in getting the vaccines into people’s arms by setting up a site where this could happen fast, with precision, and great organization has proven invaluable. This vaccine location is delivering 130 doses a day with no waiting and eventually plans to expand its capacity to 300 shots per day.
According to Governor McMaster, the vaccine site is running efficiently because private businesses are working together. He was quoted in a story on WIS-TV 10 recently saying, “This is the answer. There is no way there will be enough sites to vaccinate everyone who wants to be vaccinated without having sites like this, companies like this, private individuals stepping up and playing a part.”
Governor McMaster now says the government needs the help of additional private businesses because he's seen it work. Much like the manager of the Chick-Fil-A in the Mt. Pleasant community that helped organize and streamline a nearby vaccination site that was in disarray, private businesses are often equipped with managers and staff that are trained to deliver products and services with maximum efficiency. “The government is not big enough and never will be big enough to do all that needs to be done,” Governor McMaster was quoted as saying. “That’s why in everything we do, we depend on private businesses, private citizens, people who want to lend a hand to get to work,” he concluded.
In the same WIS-TV 10 article, Lou Kennedy, Nephron Pharmaceutical's CEO, said they wanted to help relieve the strain on hospital workers.
“It’s a no-brainer that we can do this and be a help to the already hard-working folks at the hospital,” Kennedy says. “They can help the sick patients and we can help the well patients. That takes some stress and strain from them.”
According to their release, Nephron and Dominion’s vaccination site helps people through the entire process of getting vaccinated. The location helps with registering people for their first shot and setting up their second.
Nephron Pharmaceuticals has openings in West Columbia for eligible people across the state. For more information on their site go to S.C. DHEC at this link: vaccine eligibility You can also schedule your appointment here: vaccine appointments.
