DOTHAN, Ala. – Nurses at the Hoover Met vaccination site run by the University of Alabama at Birmingham used to vaccinate about 300 people every hour. But on a recent weekday, only 300 people received shots over the course of a nine-hour shift.
Dr. Sarah Nafziger, vice president for clinical support services at UAB, said demand across all its vaccination sites has dropped 75 percent during the last five weeks. Traffic at the Hoover Met drive-through clinic has slowed to a trickle.
Nafziger said the site costs about $1.4 million a month to operate. It will close on May 18 to make way for the SEC Baseball tournament and will not reopen.
“This pandemic is not over,” Nafziger said. “And not enough Alabamians have been vaccinated to ensure we can safely return to normal and officially put this pandemic behind us. I hope more will come to our sites while they are open or will use www.vaccinefinder.org to find a location close to them to receive a vaccine.”
UAB officials also plan to close sites at Cathedral of the Cross AOH Church in Center Point on May 28 and Parker High School in Birmingham on June 18. A vaccination site at UAB Hospital Highlands will remain open to give first and second doses. Shots are available with or without an appointment.
East Alabama Medical Center, which operates a community vaccination clinic in Auburn, has scaled back to three days a week as demand has dwindled. Later this month, it will shift to afternoon and evening hours, said EAMC spokesman John Atkinson.
“We are continually evaluating our volumes to ensure we are providing vaccines in the most efficient, cost effective manner as possible while still meeting our community demand,” Atkinson said. “Even after we eventually close down our mass vaccine clinic, we will continue to offer COVID vaccines in our pharmacy in the same manner we currently provide numerous other non-COVID vaccines.”
Demand for vaccines has declined across the state. The number of vaccines administered in Alabama peaked at 44,000 on April 8 and fell to 12,600 on May 12. The slowing pace of inoculation has caused some concern, since Alabama lags the rest of the nation for vaccinations. The decrease in vaccine demand arrived much sooner than Nafziger expected.
“Unfortunately, the demand for the vaccine has fallen off faster than we wanted it to, and it’s just not feasible for us to continue to operate these locations,” Nafziger said.
In the beginning, vaccines were only available at the Hoover Met and other vaccination clinics operated by hospitals and public health departments. Now they are easier to get at pharmacies and doctors’ offices, which may be more convenient for some patients who are used to getting annual flu shots and other vaccines in those places. The two most popular vaccines, produced by Moderna and Pfizer, require very cold storage temperatures that make it more difficult to distribute to doctors and pharmacies, said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
“At the moment, we still have to bring the people to the vaccine,” Schaffner said. “And that was the great tragedy of the J&J vaccine. Because it was single dose and it could be handled in normal refrigerator temperatures, that made it ideal to distribute that vaccine to doctors’ offices, pharmacies. People could go, so that brings the vaccine closer to the people.”
Some people have not received vaccines because they lack childcare, paid time off or transportation. Those obstacles might make it harder to reach far-flung vaccination clinics. Providers are adapting by bringing vaccines closer to underserved populations.
As UAB closes its mass vaccination sites, it will open pop-up clinics in some areas facing barriers to vaccine access. Similar pop-up sites will be held in Montgomery as a collaboration between Walmart and the local housing authority. Experts hope the new approach will increase uptake in hard-to-reach communities.
