AUSTIN, Texas — This weekend, Austin Public Health (APH) will trial a drive-thru vaccination site at the Toney Burger Activity Center in South Austin. During the pilot, 1,500 people will be vaccinated, but the site has the capacity to expand and serve 3,000 people per day.
While APH officials said they are excited about the pilot, they are also looking ahead to the future and hoping that in addition to mass vaccination sites, they will be able to administer vaccines at sites in more diversified areas.
"The large sites are great because we definitely need to get a large number of vaccine out to the public and ensure that we are doing that in a short amount of time. But we've heard from the public that there is a concern that we should have more locations that are in your neighborhood, one that you can easily access," APH Director Stephanie Hayden-Howard said during a media briefing Friday morning.
"Traditionally, we have used recreation centers, community centers, churches and even on-site working with apartment complexes," Hayden-Howard continued. "And so, that is some of the planning that we are doing now. And we'll look to do more of that for neighborhood locations."
Dr. Mark Escott, Austin-Travis County's interim health authority, added that with more vaccines being distributed, APH is also hoping to see more providers able to administer the vaccines. Escott said that successful public health vaccination strategies involve both public and private partnerships.
"Those vaccines need to be close and convenient to people, needs to be close to where they live, needs to be close to where they work. So, the strategy is not just Austin Public Health, City and County resources, but also utilizing the more than 350 other providers who can get vaccine in our community," Escott said. "I think as we go through April and certainly into May, we're going to see more and more of those traditional providers having vaccine available for folks so they can just travel down the street, get the vaccine, rather than then having to, to drive a significant distance to one of these large sites."
Hayden-Howard agreed. She said that APH is going to continue to host vaccination sites and improve its scheduling portal, but the agency also hopes to see more collaboration with private providers going forward.
"We are very excited about our partners that are ready to receive vaccine, have the sta,ff employees are ready to provide it to our community. And so, as things continue to shift and more vaccine becomes available, our hope is, is to start to transition in being more in neighborhoods, very close where individuals could even walk to our sites and receive a vaccine in their community," she said.
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