Austin Public Health (APH) announced on Tuesday that its Mobile Vaccination Program (MVP) is set to help families and students in vaccine-hesitant communities get up to date with their COVID-19 immunization before the start of the school year.

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Partnering with school districts, MVP has been adding staff and scaling up operations to its mobile vaccine clinics and pop-up events, which allow for more flexibility and better outreach at times and locations suited to community needs than stand-up mass vaccination sites. 

“We know there’s a lot of community transmission locally, so we’re asking caretakers and parents to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the back-to-school list,” said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County Health Authority. “Vaccines are your best defense against serious illness from COVID-19.”

MVP partnered with community groups and local businesses to administer more than 1,500 COVID-19 vaccine doses at 67 clinics from May through July this year.

With 74.76% of Travis County’s eligible population fully vaccinated and 86.86% vaccinated with at least 1 dose, APH is urging the public to stay updated by receiving the primary series of doses and all eligible boosters. APH has administered more than 396,751 COVID-19 vaccine doses since December 2020. 

The agency has also been urging the public to take advantage of the free masks and COVID-19 tests being provided to mitigate community transmission that could lead to another surge in case counts and hospitalizations. 

The county will continue to operate vaccine clinics and supply physicians’ offices, pharmacies, and other health care facilities throughout the community with doses. 

Austin-Travis County residents wishing to schedule an appointment through the program can complete the request form here or call 512-972-5520 to schedule.