IOWA CITY, IA
University of Iowa College of Pharmacy graduate's innovative business sends pharmacists with immunizations directly to people who need them.
Pharmacists who work for Des Moines-based Vaxi Taxi have vaccinated people in their homes, on a minaret atop a mosque, and on a tractor. “I’ve climbed trees to meet kids in their treehouses. Or sit next to them on their couch while they play on an iPad,” said Casey Villhauer of Ankeny, who graduated with her PharmD in 2007.
She is the founder and CEO of the business that has struck a chord and hopes to expand across Iowa.
Through Vaxi Taxi, licensed pharmacists travel to get to patients and vaccinate them.
The business came into being from a recurring issue that Villhauer and her community pharmacist husband, Dustin, ’09 PharmD, were having with their oldest child. It was pre-pandemic, and Casey Villhauer was a stay-at-home mom to their three young children. It was flu shot season again, and their then-eight-year-old daughter was “incredibly" needle-phobic.
