COVID In Colorado: Buses Become Mobile Vaccine Clinics, Take Fight Against Pandemic On The Road

DENVER (CBS4) - With the sixth massive vaccination site up and running in Colorado, state officials are shifting their focus to getting even more people vaccinated. Four buses will soon be roaming the state, heading to rural and underserved communities to bring the COVID vaccine closer to Coloradans who want it.

"If somebody isn't able to get to one of the big centers, doesn't have a pharmacy near them, is having trouble, this is a great alternative, and it really fills the gap. It's not just rural it's also underserved urban communities. Particularly people with no transportation, no cars," said Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday.

The first two buses will begin on Friday. One bus will be visiting northeast Colorado with stops in Eaton, Ft. Morgan, Sterling and Yuma through the weekend. The second bus will visit Avondale outside Pueblo, and continue along Highway 50 with stops in La Junta, Las Animas and Lamar.

Early on, each team is hoping to vaccinate about 250 people each day, and quickly ramp up.

"These buses are able to do about 500 vaccines a day. They're doing Johnson & Johnson, so they just have to be there once. It's the single dose vaccine," Polis said. "The more people that get it, the less prevalent this virus is, and the sooner the pandemic ends."

The state hasn't yet released a website where people can find the schedule or sign up to make appointments with the clinic-on-wheels, but that information is expected to be coming soon.

Local health departments have helped schedule the first few days as the program gets moving.

Polis says he's hoping this will make a big impact as millions of people in the state still look to get vaccinated.

"We have a public health imperative to get as many people vaccinated as want them. We really want to get 70% to 80% by the end of May. It ends the pandemic; back to normal," Polis said.