MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Friday morning, the first day of a "pop-up pod" for the COVID-19 vaccine will open in Frayser in a move to make the vaccine more accessible.
The pod is located at Chester Anderson Training Center at 4341 Academy Drive.
The city originally had two dates scheduled for the vaccinations on Friday and Saturday, but as of Friday morning, a new date, Monday, had been added - full of open appointment times. Find more HERE.
Community leaders for the Frayser community said the area has been underserved, and now as a result, under-vaccinated. The zip code where the site is located, 38127, has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the county.
“37127 for a long time has been neglected," Memphis Councilman JB Smiley Jr. said. "Whether we’re talking about direct investment from city and county, or we’re talking investing resources into the community, we’re talking about distributing of the COVID-19 vaccination and it has been overlooked.”
Smiley, who through the help of local pastors, advocated for more accessible sites like the one opening in Frayser, said he is grateful for the new location.
"Just seeing the city administration pay particular attention to this often overlooked community shows that the administration is attempting to do things the way that it needs to be done - addressing inequities, inequitable distributions," he said.
Now, he's urging the city to do more work ensuring the message is reached in the community.
A number of appointments are still available heading into Saturday rather than filling up quickly, indicating it's not reaching everyone.
"I think we have to put steps in place so that we can address gaps in our current process," Smiley said.
As of Friday morning, the city switched over to the state's method of making an appointment. Book online at https://vaccinate.tn.gov/ or call 901-222-SHOT (7468).
Smiley is pushing for more local advertising being done and partnership with churches to reach more people that may be disconnected.
“I think we allow churches do what the churches can do," he said. "The churches have phone numbers. They have addresses to individuals who live close proximity to those churches. We allow them to get the message out.”
In addition to that, he wants a more "boots on the ground" approach.
“There’s no issue in our time, that is greater in our time than COVID-19 so whatever it is we can do, boots on the ground, mail, billboards, social media, using the internet to get the message out, I think we need to bring all the resources to that," he said.
