The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A ‘REGIONAL HUB’
Mass vaccination center launches at Wesleyan
MIDDLETOWN — The Community Health Center launched its third large drive-thru COVID-19 immunization location this week in Middletown, on the heels of two others — one in Stamford and a “vaccine village” at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
The Middletown site opened Thursday in parking lot V of Wesleyan University, 75 Vine St., where the Pfizer shots are being given out. Organized operations were in full force Friday afternoon at the massive site.
Nurses, doctors and nurse practitioners from the Middletown-based agency inoculated about 100 qualified individuals Thursday, and 200 Friday, according to CHC Public Relations & Communications Specialist Kimberly Pena.
Members of the Connecticut National Guard are providing support.
So far, operations, which are very “efficient,” have gone smoothly, Community Health Center Founder and CEO Mark Masselli said. “We need lots of people to do the very heavy lifting,” he said. “It requires an enormous amount of logistics and planning.”
Opening such a large site in Middletown provides access to another “regional hub,” Masselli said. “The idea was it could certainly serve Middletown, but it could also help along that region: Durham, Middlefield and beyond, as well,” he said. “We think it’s a great opportunity to provide a desperately needed service to our home community, and the region we serve here out of Middletown.”
Municipalities across Connecticut, and the country, have been affected by a shortage of doses, including the Middletown Health Department, which, over the past two weeks, asked for 600 Moderna vaccines but only received one-third of that, Acting Health Director Kevin Elak has said.
“We wish there were more vaccines in the pipe
line, but when there are, it will be sites like ours, and others, that will be here for people who are eligible to get their vaccine,” Masselli said. “It’s not the fault of the state of Connecticut. They’re distributing very well, allocating vaccines, but the need we have far exceeds the availability of the vaccines.”
The Community Health Center is also giving out Moderna vaccines by appointment on a smaller scale to eligible populations at its Grand Street location, which also provides testing.
In all, 500 CHC staff are needed to staff its testing and vaccination clinic, he said. “In addition to doing that, we are also providing primary care to a very large population throughout the state of Connecticut,” the CEO said.
“This is our responsibility as a health care organization. We’re proud of what we’ve done, but we’re also equally proud of everybody who helps us and supports our work,” Masselli said.
The site is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., by appointment only, which can be scheduled through Connecticut’s 211 system, by calling “211” or through its online site, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Administration Management System, known as VAMS.
The state is in Phase 1b of the vaccination plan, offering shots to those 75 and older, although people who had been eligible in the first phase still are being inoculated, Pena said. It is expected Gov. Ned Lamont’s office will give the go-ahead for those 65 and older within the next two weeks.
To learn more about the vaccine and who can receive it and when, go to portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus or call Connecticut’s vaccine appointment assist line at 877-918-2224. People can access the VAMS system at cdc.gov, as well as 211 at uwc.211ct.org.