Mass Vaccination Site at Gillette Stadium Opens for Soft Launch
The home stadium of the New England Patriots and Revolution will open Thursday to provide the first doses of the vaccine for staff doing first responder vaccinations
By Staff Reports • Published January 15, 2021 • Updated on January 15, 2021at 8:58 pm
The doors of Gillette Stadium open Friday to first responders in a soft launch of the state’s first mass vaccination site.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced that Massachusetts had finalized plans for the large-scale site at Gillette Tuesday, just days after the state was moved into the “severe outbreak” category by a national data tracker.
The home stadium of the New England Patriots and Revolution opened Thursday to provide the first doses of the vaccine for staff doing first responder vaccinations.
“Whether it’s Kenny Chesney, the Patriots, the Revolution or vaccines, I think the mission is the same,” Chief Michael Kelleher of the Foxboro Fire Department said.
Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, opened Friday to first responders in a soft launch of the state’s first mass vaccination site.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin is suggesting using polling places in upcoming local elections as a way to speed up that state’s coronavirus vaccine distribution plan.
Galvin sent a letter to Baker Thursday suggesting that a pilot program this March could test whether it makes sense to give the vaccine to people who are eligible to get the shot “in a nearby and convenient location, after casting their ballot.”
The site at Gillette officially opens Monday under plans to start with 300 vaccines a day, Baker said, but is expected to eventually build up to 5,000 doses a day.
Fenway Park will also be used as a mass vaccination site in the state.
Thousands of police officers, firefighters and other first responders in the state began receiving their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine Monday. About 60 sites have been set up around the state to vaccinate an estimated 45,000 people.
“I want to thank all of the first responders who have already received the vaccine. Obviously, getting the vaccine protects not only you but also your family and all the folks in the community you come into contact with,” Baker said. “The challenge, we hope, will be keeping up with the demand.”
So far, the governor said over 470,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been distributed to providers and nearly 210,000 doses have been administered in Massachusetts. About 32,000 people have gotten both shots, according to the Department of Public Health’s weekly vaccine dashboard.
Gov. Charlie Baker says the Gillette Stadium vaccine distribution site will eventually deliver up to 5,000 doses a day.
Fenway Park told NBC10 Boston Tuesday night it is working with the state to become a vaccination center, as well.
Nearly two-thirds of Massachusetts’ communities are at the highest risk of coronavirus transmission, state health data released Thursday shows.
The town-by-town coronavirus risk data — which classifies communities’ risk level on a scale from red, the highest, to grey — puts a record 229 cities and towns in the red zone, up from 219 last week. That’s just shy of two-thirds of all the communities in Massachusetts.
Coronavirus Vaccine Distribution Coverage in Mass.
Gillette Stadium Is First To Close In State’s Plan To Wind Down Its 7 Mass Vaccination Sites
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The mass vaccination site at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough is shutting down Monday — but not before delivering a few hundred more shots.
It’s the first of seven state-run mega inoculation sites that will close within the next month.
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The sites are shuttering as the state’s focus turns to targeting specific communities with low vaccination rates.
“Everyone involved in the operation is celebrating, after achieving the goal of delivering shots to hundreds of thousands,” said Rodrigo Martinez, with CIC Health, the company that managed operations at Gillette.
Martinez recalled how Gillette’s scoreboard was used to show how many people they had vaccinated.
“And long story — you know where this goes 100,000 and 200[,000] and 300[,000] and 500[,000],” he said. “And by the time we close this Monday, the 14th, we will have done a little over 610,000 vaccinations at Gillette Stadium.”
Martinez said it won’t be difficult to quickly reopen the site if its needed.
Game day at Gillette: Mass. opens first mass COVID-19 vaccination site
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Foxborough police officer Brendan Fayles receives a COVID-19 vaccination from registered nurse Samantha Schuko at the Gillette Stadium/CIC Health COVID-19 vaccination site, Jan. 15, 2021. The site officially opens Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. Eligible recipients can schedule appointments at cic-health.com/vaccines.
Wicked Local Staff/Art Illman
FOXBOROUGH — Registered nurse Amber LaMere has watched many Patriots games at Gillette Stadium, but wasn’t expecting to get the best view of the field when she received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday.
LaMere, who works at a primary care office in Boston, was among nearly 100 first responders and health care workers to receive their first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday at the stadium’s soft launch as the commonwealth’s first mass COVID-19 vaccination site.
The stadium at 1 Patriot Place is the first sports and entertainment venue to be used as a vaccination site in the Northeast and the third NFL stadium nationwide to do so.
Daily News and Wicked Local Staff/Art Illman
The site is being operated by CIC Health, a Cambridge-based health tech company, and while the Moderna vaccine is initially being administered, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may also be offered in the future, said Rodrigo Martinez, chief marketing and experience officer of CIC Health.
Both vaccines require two shots — a priming dose, followed by a booster shot, but the interval between Moderna doses is 28 days, whereas for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine it’s 21, he said.
About 100 people were vaccinated on Thursday, said Eric Goralnick, medical director at Gillette Stadium, with the site expecting to vaccinate about 300 people a day in its first full week. From there, it plans to gradually ramp up vaccinations to thousands per day.
“I think we’ve shared tears of joy — we are just so exited about what this means for residents of the commonwealth and getting people back to their everyday lives and living their lives to the fullest,” said Rachel Wilson, chief operations officer of CIC Health.
She’s expecting many people to come through the site starting Monday, as appointments for that day immediately filled up on Thursday and now there’s a wait list.
But one of the perks of vaccinating all those people in a stadium holding more than 65,000 seats is that there’s enough parking for them all, she said. Plus, the spacious atrium of the Putnam Club offers enough room for them to be safely vaccinated, as well as space to wait afterward to assure they have no allergic reaction.
The vaccines are being prepared and administered by Fallon Ambulance, with medical oversight provided by Mass General Brigham; on-site vaccine operations and logistics management by DMSE Sports; and remote customer support by PWN Health. In all, anywhere from 30 to 100 staff members will keep the site up and running daily.
Wilson said the possibility of holding vaccinations outside in the parking lot is being explored, along with CIC Health opening another vaccination site in the near future.
Eventually, the site will vaccinate those within other priority populations, per the state’s phased timeline. The state is currently still in Phase 1 (health care workers, first responders, those within congregate settings).
Vaccines will be distributed at the stadium for as long as they have to be, said Wilson.
The waiting area at the Gillette Stadium/CIC Health COVID-19 vaccination site, Jan. 15, 2021. The site officially opens Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. Eligible recipients can … Show more
Wicked Local Staff/Art Illman
After receiving her first dose Friday, LaMere said she plans to work at the stadium on weekends when it expands vaccinations to Saturday and Sundays.
“I used to work in the emergency room, and a lot of my friends still work in the emergency room at Mass General, and when we all got shut down in March I really wanted to help,” she said. “But with primary care we weren’t doing field hospital work, so once I heard that they were going to be doing vaccines, I knew I could help in this capacity on weekends when I wasn’t at my primary care job.”
“It felt just like a flu shot — nothing different,” said Foxborough police officer Brendan Fayles, who also received the vaccine on Friday. Fayles, who’s been with the Police Department for two years, said the process was easy and hopes that will encourage people to get the vaccine once they’re eligible.
“Given what we’ve been through in the last year now, I think there was a lot of anticipation to get the shot, hopefully as a first step on the road to getting back to normal,” said Foxborough Fire Chief Michael Kelleher, who also got his first shot.
How the vaccination process works
Those currently eligible to be vaccinated at the stadium must live or work in Massachusetts and be either a first responder or health care worker. Vaccinations are only done by appointment, and can be scheduled at Cic-health.com/vaccines.
Guests are asked to park in Lot 22 and enter the escalator lobby at the W4 entrance. Vaccinations will be conducted in the atrium area of the Putnam Club, and guests will exit via the escalator in the north end of the club.
After checking in and registering, guests are asked if they have a history of allergic reaction. For those who don’t, they continue on into the atrium to receive their vaccine from a health care worker.
After receiving the vaccine, guests are asked to wait in a 15-minute observation area to make sure they have no allergic reactions. They’re also encouraged to set up the appointment for their second vaccine during this time. Guests are then sent home with a card that has the date for their next appointment and an orange button reading, “I got vaccinated at Gillette Stadium.”
For those with a history of allergic reactions, they’ll be vaccinated in a separate area for closer observation lasting 30 minutes.
Martinez said he’d like the process to take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
Lauren Young writes about politics, social issues and covers the town of Franklin. Reach her at 774-804-1499 or lyoung@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurenwhy__.