Nearly 250 vaccine doses given at Juneau’s airport as demand for COVID-19 shot dwindles

Photo of COVID-19 vaccines
Public health officials continue to see a decrease in demand for COVID-19 vaccines in Juneau. (Photo by Bridget Dowd/KTOO)

Nearly 250 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed at Juneau’s airport since the shots were made available there in mid-May.

City Emergency Manager Robert Barr said among those who were vaccinated at the airport, about 70% were residents and 30% were nonresidents.

“Those nonresident numbers could be anyone,” Barr said. “So they can be residents of another state, they could be non-U.S. residents, just anyone who doesn’t have an Alaskan address.”

Barr said they’d expected to see slightly more nonresidents take advantage of the program. Public health officials continue to see a decrease in demand for the shots.

Separately, the Juneau Chamber of Commerce recently doubled its gift card incentives from $20 to $40 in hopes of attracting more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. That offer is available to people who get shots at participating city and public health clinics.

Barr said people won’t get a gift card at the airport because that’s a state program, but some commercial pharmacies are participating.

“SEARHC will be participating, Genoa Healthcare, Ron’s Apothecary and Juneau Urgent Care are also all participating in that program,” Barr said. “I would say it’s going pretty well. We are seeing about a tenth of a percent of our population in vaccine doses every day which has definitely slowed down.”

The city has been receiving fewer requests for pop-up clinics as well. Barr said he doesn’t expect to see any major changes in numbers until children under 12 can get the vaccine. But at this point, that’s not likely to happen before September.

Bridget Dowd

Local News Reporter

I keep tabs on what’s happening in Juneau’s classrooms for the families they serve and the people who work in them. My goal is to shine a light on both stories of success and the cracks that need to be filled, because I believe a good education is the basis of a strong community.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Read next

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications