Federally run mass COVID vaccination site to open in Greensboro — one of 18 in country
The federal government is launching a mass vaccination site in Greensboro that will be able to vaccinate as many as 3,000 people a day, White House officials announced Friday.
The Four Seasons Centre site will open on March 10 and will be one of 18 such sites across the country. It is the only federal mass vaccination site — also known as a Community Vaccination Center — announced in North Carolina and will follow the state’s guidelines to determine who is eligible for a shot.
March 10 is also the day that Gov. Roy Cooper has targeted for all of the state’s frontline essential workers to become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Right now, teachers are eligible, but others like agricultural workers, firefighters and police officers are not yet.
“This federally supported vaccine center will help North Carolina get more shots in arms and assist us in reaching more underserved communities,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement.
The Four Seasons site will be appointment-only for at least eight weeks, according to a White House release. It will be open seven days a week and can vaccinate up to 3,000 people a day.
Appointment information will be announced soon, according to the governor’s news release.
That’s a total of 168,000 doses of vaccine between March 10 and May 4. Those doses will not come out of the state’s regular weekly allocation.
The federal mass vaccination sites were launched with a goal of ensuring that communities with high rates of COVID-19 exposure and infections had access to the vaccine.
“We appreciate everyone working together to focus on getting vaccines to our underserved communites,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a prepared statement.
Federal officials selected Greensboro using the CDC’s social vulnerability index, according to a White House release. Guilford County’s population is 35.4% Black, 8.4% Hispanic, 5.3% Asian and 0.8% American Indian, per U.S. Census estimates. The index also accounts for factors like how much of the population is older than 65 (14.5%), how much of the population has a disability (11.1%) and how many households don’t own a vehicle (6.4%), among others.
The Four Seasons Centre was chosen based on its large parking lot and service by the Greensboro Transit Agency.
Drive-thru and walk-in vaccinations will be available at the site, in a space once occupied by a Dillard department store, but federal officials also said that it will support vaccination centers in yet-to-be determined nearby areas as part of a “hub-and-spoke” model.
According to the White House release, Guilford’s close proximity to Alamance, Davidson, Forsyth and Randolph counties was a factor in selecting the county as a site.
“Given our centralized location and our strong transportation infrastructure, Guilford County is thrilled to be strategic partner in the vaccine rollouts for North Carolina,” said Skip Alston, the chairman of Guilford County’s board of commissioners.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 11:46 AM.