Juneau is getting a handful of responses from organizations to hold small, pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics.
City officials are transitioning from mass clinics to smaller ones. They announced earlier this week that they would partner with local organizations interested in holding the mobile clinics.
Robert Barr with the Emergency Operations Center says the city is holding its first small pop-clinic on Friday.
“It’s tricky to do small ones, because we, you know, don’t want to waste any vaccine. And there are six doses in every vial, so you want to, you know, do it in increments of six if you can,” Barr said.
Barr says the city is in the planning phases for a few other small clinics with organizations that include a church, other local commercial businesses and The University of Alaska Southeast.
Barr says Juneau is still leading the country in vaccination rates. But while about half of people in Juneau have received at least one dose, he says the pace is “more of a trickle than a flood.”
Meanwhile, the city has seen a spike in case numbers this week. Barr says that’s because of travel.
“We think we’re starting to see a little bit of impact from spring break. And I think, it’s just, it’s hard, right? Because we all want COVID to be over,” Barr said. “Unfortunately, it’s not. We’re just not there yet.”
More than 15,000 people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Juneau. More than 11,000 people have been fully vaccinated.
