Governor Polis unveils new mobile vaccination clinics in Pueblo County
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- Colorado has a new way to get shots in arms. Governor Jared Polis unveiled a brand new mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Avondale Friday morning.
Health officials and nurses are boarding a charter bus to administer the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to communities in need for the next two months.
"We are going to be in La Junta, Lamar, and all of southeastern Colorado,” said Governor Jared Polis. “We know there are areas where it’s hard to access traditional health care or a hospital. The pharmacy might not have enough of the vaccine. We need to help fill those gaps. That’s really the role of mobile vaccination stations.”
Governor @jaredpolis is set to unveil the brand new mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Avondale today! This large bus will be visiting small communities throughout southeastern Colorado in the coming days. @KRDONC13 pic.twitter.com/fDSNE2aubB
— Dan Beedie KRDO (@BeedieonTV) April 2, 2021
The mobile vaccination clinics are ADA compliant, complete with a freezer able to carry around 1,000 doses of the vaccine at a time.
Governor Polis says the mobile clinic will administer at least 500 doses a day. On Friday, the clinic will administer around 250 doses to people in the communities of Avondale and Ordway.
“That makes it a lot easier to serve folks," said Governor Polis. "It’s appropriate, here we are on Good Friday right outside of a church in Avondale providing a life-saving vaccine.”
Currently, there are two charter busses delivering vaccines to people in need across the state. Polis says two more are on the way.
After Avondale, Polis traveled to the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo to review one of the six mass vaccination clinics in the state.
Last weekend, the clinic administered around 2,500 vaccines. On Friday, Centura Health says they will administer 1,755 first doses of the vaccine, and 4,724 doses throughout the weekend. Next weekend that number is expected to ramp up to more than 8,000.
"These [mass vaccination clinics] are able to do up to three to six thousand doses a day," said Governor Polis. "We don't yet have the number of vaccines to allow us to do that many."
To keep track of the mobile vaccination clinic's route across Colorado and to set an appointment go to boxcarvax.com. For all other vaccinations, Coloradans can learn how to set an appointment here.
