City Of Denver, Denver Health To Open 4 Community COVID Vaccine Sites

DENVER (CBS4)- The City of Denver has announced a partnership with Denver Health to offer four community vaccination sites in areas most impacted by COVID-19. The first site will open in Montbello on Feb. 18. The city says locations in Northeast, West, and Southwest Denver will follow.

"We want to make sure that this resource is available to the community that needs it," said Dr. Bill Burman, Director of Denver Public Health. "We don't want these to be the place where people from around the metro area drive to be vaccinated, these are specifically designed to address vaccine inequity in these communities."

Dr. Burman says the vaccination sites will operate similarly to free COVID testing sites around the city.

"I think we're embarking on a three to six-month project, not a two-week vaccination project. We think having predictable locations with clear and well-communicated ways to sign up, and get to those sites, will be, in the long run, more useful than those individual events that take quite a bit of organizing with each event," said Dr. Burman. "The thought we have to start with is to start with a capacity of about 200 per day, and then we'll learn."

Dr. Burman believes predictable access will improve vaccination rates in underserved areas.

"Put the vaccines where they are very convenient, and work with trusted entities in the community to help people use those sites," he said.

Denver Health and the City of Denver say final details on locations and ways to sign up are still being worked out. In the meantime, Dr. Burman encourages people to sign up for the COVID vaccination list.