The University of Alabama at Birmingham and UAB Medicine will open its fourth community COVID-19 vaccination location Friday, March 19, at AOH Cathedral of the Cross, located at 1480 Center Point Parkway.
Cathedral of the Cross will open as a drive-through, appointment-only location that operates from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. Anyone who meets Alabama Department of Public Health criteria for vaccination as of March 22 can register for an appointment at www.uabmedicinevaccine.org. If you live in or in a surrounding Center Point community and you need assistance to register for the vaccine, visit the Food Giant on Center Point Parkway from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday or from 2 p.m. until close on Tuesday and Thursday.
Cathedral of the Cross joins UAB Hospital-Highlands, Parker High School and the Hoover Met as community vaccination locations run by UAB in Jefferson County. UAB is also providing vaccines on campus at Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium. At these sites, UAB has provided vaccinations to ADPH-approved groups, including frontline health care employees from UAB and other hospitals, community health care personnel, EMS personnel, first responders, patients, those in the education sector, and other eligible community members.
“We continue to work extremely closely with the Jefferson County Department of Public Health to identify areas in our community where vaccines are needed, and Center Point and the northeastern side of the county is where the data showed we needed to go next,” said Sarah Nafziger, M.D., vice president of Clinical Support Services at UAB. “We have said all along that we believe these vaccines are the ticket out of this pandemic. We are getting there. It will take some more time, but we are getting there. And we are looking forward to getting started in Center Point later this week.”
The federal government selected Cathedral of the Cross as a regional COVID testing site earlier in the pandemic, and its location is a great fit for Center Point, Tarrant, Clay, Trussville and other nearby communities, says Lashunda Scales, president pro tem of the Jefferson County Commission.
“COVID-19 has had a devastating effect across our county, state and nation,” Scales said. “This collaborative effort is a direct result of the need to make vaccinations easily accessible in communities across Jefferson County.”
This past Friday, Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Department of Public Health announced that, starting March 22, the ADPH will extend eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations to include people age 55 and older, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and the population defined as Allocation Phase 1c in the Alabama Vaccine Allocation Plan.
Have you registered to receive your COVID-19 vaccine? Do so now at www.uabmedicinevaccine.org/.
On March 22, in addition to those age 55 and older and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, groups to be included for extended eligibility are people ages 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions, which include but are not limited to the following conditions:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD
- Heart conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies; immunocompromised state
- Solid organ transplant
- Obesity, BMI greater than 30
- Pregnancy
- Sickle cell disease
- Smoking
- Type 1 and 2 diabetes
- Other medical conditions as determined by your medical provider
Also, critical workers in the following areas who were not recommended for vaccination in Phase 1b will be eligible:
- Transportation and logistics
- Waste and wastewater
- Food service (includes restaurant staff)
- Shelter and housing (construction)
- Finance (bank tellers)
- Information technology and communication
- Energy
- Legal
- Media
- Public safety (engineers)
Latest UAB demographic information
As of March 12, UAB has delivered 100,613 first- and second-dose vaccines since mid-December. Of those, 21 percent of doses have been administered to individuals who self-identify as Black, 66 percent as white, 5 percent as Asian, and almost 3 percent Hispanic or Latino.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has highlighted people of color among the “critical population” to vaccinate because they are at “increased risk of acquiring or transmitting COVID-19.” A nationwide report the agency released Feb. 1 estimates that only 5.4 percent of those vaccinated are Black.
In Alabama, 27.8 percent of residents are Black.
“From the beginning, we have been purposeful in our planning and outreach to make equity a central focus of our vaccination efforts,” Nafziger said. “While our early results are better than the national average with Black communities, we are not satisfied and will continue our efforts to increase outreach among underrepresented groups.”
The breakdown of the 100,613 vaccines UAB has administered is as follows: (all numbers through Monday, March 15):
- 57,110 have received first dose
- 43,503 have received first and second doses
- Females: 63.3 percent
- Males: 36.7 percent
- Whites: 66 percent
- Black or African American: 21 percent
- Asian: 5 percent
- Hispanic or Latino: 2 percent
- Other/Unknown: 6 percent
To date, UAB has provided vaccines to Alabamians living in 62 counties.
As of March 15, 124,976 Alabamians have registered with UAB for a vaccine; 55,706 are waiting to be vaccinated.
UAB officials say the success in delivering vaccines has been a team effort between the university and the UAB Health System.
“When we brought the proposals to open these community vaccination sites, the leadership of the university and UAB Health System never questioned whether or not UAB should do it,” Nafziger said. “They said, ‘Absolutely, you do whatever is needed to partner with public health groups to make sure we get this done so we can end this pandemic.’ I’m very grateful to our leadership team for allowing us to do this.”
Those currently eligible to be vaccinated as determined by the Alabama Department of Public Health can visit www.uabmedicinevaccine.org to register. Once a registration form is submitted, no further communication will come from UAB until there is an appointment time available; that communication will come from UAB’s scheduling software program called Phreesia to confirm appointment locations and times.