Some county health departments are shutting down their mass COVID-19 vaccination sites amid lower demand, The New York Times reported April 23.
When Ohio's Mercer County opened its mass vaccination site in early 2021, its 400 appointments would fill up within two hours. However, demand has dwindled over the past few weeks, with the county now planning to close the site May 7. At present, about 27 percent of adults in the county have received at least one dose.
"It wasn't fair to ask our volunteers to keep showing up there when they weren't being fully utilized — they like to keep busy," Jason Menchhofer, the county's health administrator, told the Times April 22.
Other cities and counties that have recently shared plans to close mass vaccination sites in May include Las Vegas; Palm Beach County, Fla.; and Galveston County, Texas, reports the Times.
The closure announcements come as more than half of U.S. adults have now received at least one dose. The White House and state health officials say the next phase of the nation's vaccination campaign will function more like a get-out-the-vote effort, requiring more targeted approaches, according to a separate Times report.
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