Alabama’s first large-scale COVID-19 vaccination sites opened Monday and Tuesday in Mobile, Auburn and Hoover, a week before more than one million seniors and essential workers in the state became eligible for vaccines.
Employees and volunteers in Mobile, Lee County and Hoover Met will eventually be able to administer more than 1,000 vaccines a day, depending on delivery, said Bob Shepard, a spokesman for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Shepard said he expected more than 800 vaccines to be administered on Tuesday, as the Hoover Met clinic reaches full capacity. Some cities and counties have full-day vaccine clinics, but these are the first efforts to deliver more than 1,000 vaccines every day, Monday through Friday.
Vaccines are available by appointment only and people can register through online portals operated by the Alabama Department of Public Health, Eastern Alabama Medical Center and Jefferson County Vaccine Service Center. The vaccination site in Hoover is a partnership between UAB and the city of Hoover. Another location will open soon at AH Parker High School in Birmingham.
Around 11 am on Tuesday, a line of cars meandered through the traffic-marked lanes in Hoover. Patients go through checkpoints to check appointments, then receive the injection and park in a waiting area for 15 minutes for observation.
“We had no allergic reactions at any of our vaccine clinics,” said Shepard. “It was going really well.”
On February 8, people aged 65 and over and many essential workers will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. UAB and the city of Birmingham are still working on details of the vaccination site at AH Parker High School.
State health officials expect demand to exceed supply in the near future, which can make scheduling appointments difficult. So far, most vaccines are available in limited quantities from local health departments and hospitals.