“Is that for here or to go?” Drive-Through Pediatric Vaccine Clinic as a Novel Approach during a Global Pandemic

Abstract

Objective: Routine childhood vaccination and well-child visits are essential for pediatric patients’ preventative and public healthcare services. The COVID-19 pandemic had an immediate and significant decline in well-child visits and vaccine administration. A one-of-a-kind’ Drive Through Vaccine Clinic’ was established to improve the vaccination rate and alleviate parental anxiety about being exposed to COVID-19 infection. Methods: Our initial focus was on children between 18 months – 4 years of age at the start of the pandemic, and then slowly extended this to the back-to-school vaccines and the Influenza vaccines. Results: The Drive-Through Immunization Station provided 745 vaccines to 415 patients between April and September 2020. The median wait time involved from patient arrival to completion of vaccine administration was five minutes at the Drive-Through location. Patient and parent feedback was positive. The addition of Drive Through Clinic helped significantly increase the total number of vaccines administered compared to the previous year. Conclusion: In a global pandemic, innovative ideas to increase access to preventive healthcare should be a priority. In the future, this method of nontraditional vaccine administration will allow for improved outreach efforts to underserved populations in our communities and better disaster preparedness.

Parental Willingness and Associated Factors of Pediatric Vaccination in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Finally, the removal of environmental barriers also made great improvements for children's vaccination during the epidemic. A successful example was presented by four primary care clinics at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, USA [49]. It was documented that a drive-through pediatric vaccine clinic was established at multiple drive-through sites in the community (other than healthcare facilities) during the pandemic.…”

A Quality Improvement Initiative to Transform Seasonal Immunization Processes Using Learning from the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic

“…The team adapted COVID-19 vaccination strategies from national experience 7,8,10 and local, proactively designed PDSA cycles using influenza as a testbed. Community vaccination clinics, 7,8 public-housing vaccination clinics, 24 and corporate vaccine clinics 9,25 before and during the COVID-19 pandemic have all been well-described in the literature.…”

“…The team adapted COVID-19 vaccination strategies from national experience 7,8,10 and local, proactively designed PDSA cycles using influenza as a testbed. Community vaccination clinics, 7,8 public-housing vaccination clinics, 24 and corporate vaccine clinics 9,25 before and during the COVID-19 pandemic have all been well-described in the literature. The unique features of our program are (1) the application of these strategies to adult patients under the leadership of a pediatric health system and (2) the real-time use of influenza vaccinations to prototype COVID-19 vaccines during an active pandemic.…”

“…Historically, some organizations used large-scale, single-site clinics to meet sudden vaccine demand surges. 7,8 Others have previously studied drive-through clinics and found them to be feasible, 7,9 safe, 7 satisfying for patients, 9 efficient, 9 and cost-effective. 10 This also reduces the risk of droplet and aerosol transmission of COVID-19 11,12 because drive-through patients remain in their cars.…”

How Should Resources From National Stockpiles Be Managed?

“…Rather, programs that were more successful in responding to recent emergencies were those with greater flexibility, such as drive-through vaccination clinics, which were rapidly established during the COVID-19 pandemic. 17 In an era of 3D printing and additive manufacturing, perhaps a reimagining of the SNS would entail not hoarding of PPE but instead creating dedicated manufacturing sites that could rapidly tailor outputs to the needs of the emergency response, similar to how the Defense Production Act allows the presidential administration to utilize private manufacturing capabilities, as was seen during the COVID-19 response. 18 This approach is not without its flaws, however.…”