MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The FEMA setup at the Pipkin building COVID vaccination never reached its high expectations but representatives look at the last six weeks as a success.
FEMA and military personnel have been working the Pipkin site since early April. On Wednesday, they'll work one last day before pulling out of the site.
Their presence meant the capacity to deliver more vaccines was much higher. The site had the capabilities to administer 3,000 shots a day, 21,000 a week, but never reach those numbers. Some days there were only a few hundred shots given out.
“It’s all in how you look at it," FEMA representative Darrell Habisch said. "For me, it’s the total picture of what is being accomplished."
Habisch said the site may have not reached its initial goals, but it was still successful in delivering shots.
“If we do between 1,000 and 2,500 [shots] a day, if we average 1,000 a day, that’s a thousand extra arms that are receiving it," he said.
Habisch said two factors may be attributable to why they never reached the 3,000 goal: vaccine hesitancy and the increasing number of sites opening in the city.
“Had the city not the pop-up clinics and all of the clinics all over, in those communities, if they didn’t exist, those 3,000-plus numbers would have been occurring at the Pipkin building," Habisch said.
Currently, in Shelby County, more than 340,000 people have received their first shot. It's still short of the 700,000 goal needed to reach herd immunity.
The City of Memphis will maintain management of the site. Habisch said he expects operations to remain efficient and smooth.
The hours will change beginning May 20 to being open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday to Saturday.
