Hoover Met Opens For Drive-By COVID-19 Vaccinations

HOOVER, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham opened its drive-by COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Hoover Met Tuesday, and university officials say they hope to administer up to 1,000 vaccines a day at the location.

The new Hoover site joins the current downtown UAB Hospital-Highlands location and the soon-to-open Parker High School location as community vaccination sites. UAB is also vaccinating health care workers, EMS and first responders at an additional UAB Hospital site, following state health guidelines for vaccination.

The drive-through site at the Hoover Met had 815 appointments scheduled for Tuesday and will work up to 1,000 vaccinations per day at the site, depending on the vaccine supply on hand. The UAB Highlands location has been vaccinating UAB patients 75 and older from Birmingham, Jefferson County and beyond since the state began allowing that group to receive vaccinations Jan. 18.

Vaccines are available by appointment only, and people can register through online portals operated by the Alabama Department of Public Health, East Alabama Medical Center and the Jefferson County Vaccine Call Center.

Up to 400 patients per day are vaccinated at Highlands, six days a week. The Parker High School location will supplement the downtown Highlands location, and will also vaccinate up to 400 patients per day.

"We are working as quickly as we can to get these sites set up,” said Dr. Sarah Nafziger, UAB Hospital’s vice president for Clinical Services. "We already had one downtown site at Highlands, and the Hoover Met site enables us to vaccinate a large volume of residents from Birmingham, Hoover, and cities throughout Jefferson County and beyond. The Jefferson County Department of Health, the Jefferson County EMA, and the cities of Hoover and Birmingham have been key partners with us. Together, we are ensuring we can reach the largest number of people from across all of our communities as quickly as we can."

Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Department of Public Health announced Jan. 29 that the ADPH will extend eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations to include people age 65 or older, and additional groups of frontline workers beginning Feb. 8.