PORTLAND, Maine — The home of the New England Patriots will soon operate as Massachusetts' first mass COVID-19 vaccination site, according to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.
Gillette Stadium will start by serving as a location for giving vaccines to first responders. Governor Baker made the announcement during a COVID-19 update in Worcester on Tuesday.
Staff giving the vaccines to first responders will get the first doses on Thursday. The site will open to first responders to get vaccinated on Monday.
Healthcare workers will administer 300 doses per day. Governor Baker said they plan to work up to 5,000 vaccines administered per day, with the potential for more.
Eligible vaccine recipients can sign up on the Massachusetts COVID-19 vaccine site at www.mass.gov/covidvaccine and CIC Health's website at cic.com/vaccines.
CIC Health will operate the site with Brigham and Women's Hospital as the medical director and Fallon Ambulance supporting the clinical staffing, Baker said.
"We're grateful to partners who signed up to get this site up and running, and a special thanks to Gillette Stadium and the Kraft family," Baker said.
"These vaccines are safe and effective," Baker said. "This is a huge step forward in our fight against COVID-19 and we are progressing through our vaccine plan as we hoped we would."
Baker said they plan to move on to the next phase of vaccine distribution in the coming days. The next phase includes congregate care communities. He said they only hear about how many doses they will receive in each shipment about two or three days before it arrives, making it somewhat difficult to plan or promise the number of doses available for the next phases of distribution.
