DFW area. Texas has opened up vax to all adults, estimate is this will add at least 10 million more people to vaccinate. But at the same time, some of the hubs in the DFW area have announced that they will be shutting down soon. The hub that DW and I used were running 2,000 per day when they had vaccine to give. They said that they are seeing a sharp increase in last-minute cancellations, and no-shows. Next week's signups will be their last. Then they will only be open to give second doses to those that got their first doses there, then gone.
Supposedly, vax is going to be available at many Dr. offices and pharmacies. So it is going to splinter to small amounts of vax splattered wherever, which these small providers may or may not get week to week.
Within 15 miles of us, there was ONE pharmacy that got 100 doses. Woo hoo.
It sure is going to take a lot of pharmacies to replace even one hub! I don't think the pharmacy chains have thought this through. Let's say they can vax one person every 10 minutes, and run 12 hours a day (that's a lot of open staffed hours for a pharmacy!). That's 6 per hour times 12 hours... a measely 72 vax a day! A drop in the bucket! What happens to their regular business in the meantime? When I get a shot at a pharmacy, it takes them longer than 10 minutes, that's for sure.
They lose economy of scale, regularity of procedure, etc. etc. I'm not saying that getting Covid-19 vax at a pharmacy is a bad idea, but rather a well-run hub site pumps people through in volume so fast!
Oh... this week's signup for the hub that we had gone to for ours, lasted 15 minutes online, for 4,000 doses. The demand is certainly here! Let's see... how many pharmacies are needed to give 4,000 shots total in a couple/few days? And how about the hubs running 11,780 doses per event week?