The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will close its COVID-19 vaccine clinic and drive-through testing site, officials announced Thursday.
The vaccine clinic, located in the Monroe Building (the former headquarters of the American Red Cross) on the UAMS campus, will close at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 18. UAMS will continue to offer COVID vaccines through individual clinics.
The drive-through testing site, located at Shuffield Drive and Jack Stephens Drive on the UAMS campus, will close at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 25. Beginning Monday, March 28, COVID testing will be available by appointment only at the Monroe Building, located at 401 S. Monroe St.
“As the number of COVID infections continue to drop in Arkansas, we no longer need these COVID-specific areas and can meet the demand for vaccines and testing in other ways,” said Steppe Mette, M.D., CEO of the UAMS Medical Center and senior vice chancellor of UAMS Health. “Closing the vaccine clinic and the drive-thru will allow us to redeploy our workers to areas where they are needed more.”
UAMS first opened its drive-thru COVID testing site March 13, 2020. Staff also conducted drive-up testing events around the state. Since March 2020, UAMS has conducted more than 174,000 tests at these drive-thru locations and more than 218,000 tests overall. Since UAMS Health began offering the COVID vaccine, it has administered more than 118,000 doses.