HealthPartners now offering drive-up COVID-19 vaccinations

With continued increases to state’s vaccine allotment, HealthPartners adds drive-up option for convenient, quick vaccination

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – HealthPartners opened its first drive-up vaccination site today at its Bloomington headquarters, and is prepared to open additional drive-up sites as vaccine supply increases. The site will be open 7 days a week, and appointments are required. This positions the health care system to safely and quickly administer its weekly allotment of COVID-19 vaccines in a way that’s convenient for patients and members.

The drive-up site will complement HealthPartners hospital and clinic vaccination sites, and represents a new phase in Minnesota’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign.

Leveraging the recently authorized Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, which is easier to store than other authorized vaccines, HealthPartners will be able to vaccinate more than 600 patients per day at its Bloomington drive-up location, with the capability to administer more than 20,000 vaccines per week system-wide as supply allows. The health system has already administered more than 100,000 vaccine doses to older adults, who are particularly vulnerable to developing severe COVID-19, and health care workers from inside and outside the organization.

Patient eligibility and scheduling
HealthPartners is currently vaccinating, by invitation only, patients 65 years and older and seen within the health system in the last three years. Due to the large amount of patients in this age range, invitations are sent through email, text and phone call to randomized subsets. Appointment availability is based on supply, which can vary week to week.

HealthPartners is also proactively reaching out to certain populations who may not be as comfortable with the health care system, using interpreters for conversations about vaccination, and providing transportation to vaccine appointments when needed.

The best way for patients to stay informed about vaccine eligibility and appointment availability is by visiting healthpartners.com/vaccine.