Richmond and Henrico Health Districts offering by-request mobile COVID-19 vaccinations for groups

Want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 but haven’t had a chance to get the shot yet? The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts want to make it easy for you and your group of coworkers, friends, family members or neighbors.

The RHHD June 3 is launching a by-request mobile vaccination effort through which businesses, organizations or even individual residents can request the agency’s “Cool Cube Crew” visit a location or event in either locality to provide shots to groups of people.

The effort is so named because the small team of officials will arrive with a portable freezer stocked with vaccines.

To make a request, visit the agency's website and complete a form.

Though there’s not a minimum number of people who must be vaccinated at a Cool Cube event, RHHD spokesperson Cat Long told the Citizen that the agency will prioritize requests that either would offer vaccines to the largest number of people at one time or would support its efforts to reach members of populations with low vaccination rates to date, or both.

The Cool Cube effort is not designed to serve individual residents, however. Anyone who is homebound and wants to be vaccinated should call the RHHD’s hotline at 205-3501 to request a visit from a different mobile crew.

The new program is a continuation of the RHHD’s proactive approach to vaccinations during recent weeks, as mass vaccination sites have closed because all those who wanted to be vaccinated as soon as possible have been.

“This switch to much smaller teams will allow us to vaccinate and educate in more areas across our city [and county] and really meet people where they are,” said RHHD Nurse Manager Amy Popovich during a press briefing in Richmond June 2. RHHD officials are working with particular focus to reach people who live in areas with high social vulnerability levels and those in which the percentage of people vaccinated is low, she said.

In Henrico, nearly 55% of the county’s total population of more than 330,000 people has received at least one shot of vaccine, while nearly 45% – or just more than 148,000 people – now are fully vaccinated.

Among those 18 and older in Henrico, 66.4% have received at least one dose of vaccine, while nearly 36% of children and teens 12 to 17 in the county have. The Biden Administration wants 70% of adults in the nation to have received at least one dose of vaccine by July 4 – a goal that local health officials are confident they'll meet or exceed sometime this month.

As part of its ongoing vaccination efforts, the RHHD is planning to host at least eight walk-up vaccination events in Henrico and Richmond each week, Popovich said Wednesday. (Click here to view a full list of planned events.)