Starting today, Austin Public Health will be releasing appointments every Monday evening for first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Prior to this, officials were opening appointments on Tuesdays and Thursdays — and somewhat sporadically.
The specific days and the number of these appointments, however, will vary each week depending on how many vaccines the city gets from state health officials, as well as the timing of those shipments.
These changes are largely the result of feedback from the public.
According to APH officials, Austinites have been asking for a regular schedule for the release of appointments. They also wanted a larger number of appointments to choose from — as well as the ability to schedule appointments multiple days in advance, so they could better plan transportation and work schedules.
Health officials said they will also monitor inventory and tally up how many people didn’t show up for scheduled vaccination appointments. If additional vaccines become available, officials said, they will reopen the appointment portal on Thursday evenings.
“APH will cancel the Thursday release of appointments if there is no available vaccine,” officials said in a statement. “The public will see this cancellation on the scheduling page and on APH's social media channels. The bulk of the vaccine and main release days will be Monday.”
