Nashville Opens Up Music City Center For Walk-In Vaccinations

Earlier this month, Nashville expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to everyone ages 16 and up. Now, the city is offering the chance for walk-in vaccinations, no appointment necessary.

Starting Monday (April 19), Music City Center will offer the Pfizer vaccine to the first 500 people who come to the mass vaccination site without an appointment, WKRN reports. Metro Public Health leaders hope this moves the city toward its goal of at least 50% of the Davidson County population receiving at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Currently, the county sits at about 35% of the population at least partially vaccinated.

According to the news outlet, the vaccination numbers last week started with over 2,000 administered in one day, but by the end of the week, the humber had decreased to around 1,600 per day.

"It doesn't surprise me that some people have questions, still have concerns," said Dr. Julie Morita, of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former commissioner of Chicago Department of Public Health. "That's the other challenge public health people should be thinking about right now. 'How do [we] reach those folks? How do [we] get in contact with them, and really listen to them and understand what are their questions and what are their concerns and who do they want to hear from?'"

According to WKRN, Music City Center is still encouraging the public to schedule an appointment to ensure they can receive their vaccination, however walk-ins will still be accepted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day of the week.

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