AHLA: Consider Hotels As Vaccine Distribution Sites

A letter from the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) says that America’s hotels, starved for work, want to be considered as vaccine distribution sites.

“By quickly mobilizing an existing network of sites, hotels can help strengthen the delivery and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in communities across the country to better streamline and build on current state efforts,” the letter asserts.

The letter goes on to say that the vaccine administration has been widely understood to be a “significant undertaking” in need of new partnerships.

The hotel industry, it posits, could be a solution, in partnership with public health departments.

The letter goes on to list geographic capacity, with over 50,000 hotels in every state in various types of neighborhoods including suburbs, cities and rural communities.

Because hotels have private rooms alongside special areas like ballrooms, eating areas and outside areas, along with the lower occupancy rates since the pandemic reduced travel, they’d be optimal locations, the letter says.

Because the hotel industry has adopted stringent cleanliness standards, the AHLA argues they’ll be safe places for guests to come and get shots. And with the refrigeration capacities to store vaccines, the letter says they’d be good locations for storage, and there are not likely to be any serious problems.

And as the next process of vaccine distribution comes underway, the AHLA says the hotels have “the unique capacity” to work with governments and help serve communities, the letter claims.

Vaccine distribution has been underway for a few weeks now, with PYMNTS reporting that there have already been 6.7 million adults vaccinated. There are about 130 million “eager” to follow, the report says, although that could take a while. But having two vaccines ready for distribution is influencing peoples’ opinions.

Stats from last year showed people primarily concerned about the coronavirus above all else. But now, almost a year into the pandemic, the presence of vaccines is making people shift to thinking the pandemic may be sooner to ending than they previously thought.