Vaccine site at Sears still in the works

Mass vaccination site for northern Rhode Island won’t open until supply increases

WOONSO&.(T – State health officials say they’re “operationally ready” to open the former Sears store in (ast Woonsocket as a regional hub for administering &O9ID immunizations, but they won’t begin booking appointments there until the vaccine supply increases enough to Mustify a fourth state-operated mass inMection site.

“The issue is it’s Must a supply Tuestion right now,” said -oseph Wendelken, spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Health. “It Must doesn’t make logistical sense for us to be running a fourth mass vaccination site until we have enough vaccine to run it at full capacity.”

RIDOH hopes to be able to firm up a date for opening the site “closer to the end of the month,” Wendelken said.

RIDOH is presently receiving about 4 ,000 doses of vaccine per week, but that figure is expected to increase substantially in the near future. By the beginning of April, Wendelken said RIDOH anticipates receiving its first weekly shipment of about 15,000 doses of the -ohnson -ohnson vaccine.

“That’s significant,” said Wendelken, because every dose of the one-shot -ohnson -ohnson vaccine is like getting two of the other products which have been predominantly in use so far – the Pfizer and 0oderna shots.

But supplies of the 0oderna and Pfizer vaccines are also expected to increase, according to Wendelken, who says RIDOH anticipates having twice as much vaccine of all types on hand regularly by -une than it does now.

The promising outlook on supply last week prompted Gov. Dan 0c.ee to announce that all adults in Rhode Island could begin booking

appointments to be vaccinated as of April 19. Right now shots are restricted to people over 16 with underlying health conditions and anyone 60 or older. He also asked Rhode Islanders to be patient, however, because it might take some time for an appointment to open up for everyone who wants one after the age threshold comes down.

Sears was announced as a future vaccination site by Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott nearly a month ago – on Feb. 25.

Located in Walnut Hill Plaza, at the intersection of Mendon Road and Diamond Hill Road, the store has a footprint of more than 60,000 square feet, according to Keypoint Partners, the leasing agent for the owner, Lionheart Capital of Florida. Sears’ corporate parent closed the store – along with dozens of others Sears stores around the country – in a corporate downsizing move in March 2017, but public health officials say the size of the building and its easily accessible location make it perfect for a mass vaccination site.

Although it was chosen primarily for its convenience to residents in the northern part of the state, the site will offer vaccinations to anyone who lives in Rhode Island, regardless of where, Wendelken said.

Presently the state is operating similar facilities at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, a former Citizens Bank office building at Sockanosset Crossing in Cranston and – the most recent addition to the state sites – a shuttered Benny’s home and auto store in Middletown.

As of yesterday, RIDOH said more than 461,000 Rhode Islanders had received at least one dose of vaccine and that 169,381 had been fully vaccinated.