BOISE, Idaho — St. Luke's Health System announced Tuesday it is opening a new dedicated COVID-19 vaccination site at St. Luke's in downtown Boise. The site, located at 800 E. Park Blvd., will open on March 18 and is in addition to the other clinic locations that currently offer vaccine appointments.
The St. Luke's location in downtown Boise has vaccine appointments available Monday through Friday. A news release says those who prefer the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine should choose an appointment on Thursdays, that is when St. Luke's is working to provide the Janssen vaccine as long as supply remains stable.
"I got my one and only vaccine for COVID-19," vaccine recipient, Dennis Gratton said.
Gratton is the first person to receive the Johnson and Johnson vaccine from St. Luke's. Gratton told St. Luke's this was his first vaccination since 1955.
He was motivated by his daughters to get a vaccine, but he specifically wanted to wait for the Johnson and Johnson dose to be available.
"We’re sensitive to not only people having a preference but also some of the things that play a role with people's decision to either avoid this type or prefer another,” St. Luke's Senior Director of Pharmacy Scott Milner said.
The Pfizer vaccine will be administered Monday through Wednesday and Moderna on Friday if the vaccine is available. St. Luke's says appointments for the Janssen vaccine are available now for this Thursday. Anyone currently eligible can schedule an appointment through myChart, no walk-ins will be allowed.
“The greatest thing that we have right now is that we have more vaccinators, and we have more volume. We keep looking forward to having more inventory in our possession so we can open more appointments,” Milner said.
If you do not have a myChart account, do not have internet access or need interpretation services, call St. Luke's Connect at 208-381-9500. If there are no appointments available, St. Luke's says people will have the option to fill out a vaccine questionnaire and they will be contacted when it is time to schedule an appointment.
People receiving their vaccine at St. Luke's Plaza should park in the lots north of the building and enter through the back entrance.
St. Luke's continues to follow the state COVID-19 vaccine guidelines and priority list recommendations. The clinic and hospital phone lines are not designed to answer questions about vaccination or the registry. Unless someone needs to call their provider for an emergency, everyone is encouraged to use myChart for vaccine-related questions or visit the St. Luke's COVID-19 vaccine resource webpage.
