MEMPHIS, Tennessee — "Data is everything and what we saw is that there was a large underserved population in Memphis," Gracia Szczech with FEMA said.
Tuesday, FEMA and its military partners put the finishing touches on staffing and operations at Tennessee's first federal 'community vaccination center.' It will double the lanes - and daily vaccine output - in and around Pipkin Building in midtown Memphis near the Liberty Bowl.
"This site is accessible - whether it's through mass transit, for drive through, for walkup - we are making sure we are hitting that public so that is is open to everyone," Szczech said.
With the expanded vaccine footprint, staff and organizers shifted the in-points and out-points to ensure better access for more modes of transportation.
"The 'fast pass' for church vans coming in, the drop point for MATA - whether it's individual rides or through public transportation stops," City of Memphis Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen said. "We had to rearrange some things so we can bring people in efficiently, offload them, make sure they had wheelchair accessibility, ADA accessibility, a place where they could administer the vaccines, get them back into their vehicle and out of the site and make sure they don't have to wait in the line," he added.
The federal site's Wednesday opening provides Shelby County with 21,000 additional weekly COVID-19 vaccine doses for six weeks. But as of Tuesday afternoon, at least 15,000 appointment slots this week remained unfilled.
"We have to take advantage of this Memphis and Shelby County. We are uniquely positioned to kick butt in this pandemic," McGowen said.
That's why McGowen said they are applying polite pressure to encourage participation and ensure the federal site runs at strong capacity.
"How to use Nextdoor to drive the message down in the neighborhoods, how to take those folks who are influencers in the community, whether they be clergy or other folks and get them talking about this," McGowen said.
Those with the Shelby County COVID-19 Joint Task Force are particularly appealing to those 40 and younger to get vaccinated, especially with a recent spike in other states linked to COVID-19 variant strains and hospitalizations in that age group.
