Fenway Park ditches hot dogs and beer for Pfizer shots as mass vaccination site opens at historic ballpark
Instead of the usual Fenway Franks and ice-cold pints of Sam Adams Boston Lager, the bar behind third base at the historic home of the Red Sox has started serving up shots of the Pfizer vaccine by the hundreds.
The storied ballpark is the second mass vaccination site to open at one of the state’s iconic sports venues and the first large-scale immunization clinic to open in Boston. It’s one of seven mass vaccination sites that will open across the state by mid-February.
About 250 health care workers, first responders and congregate care residents were the first to roll up their sleeves on Thursday and Friday during the site’s soft opening.
Beginning Monday, Fenway Park will be vaccinating about 500 people a day, ramping up to 1,250 immunizations daily the following week.
Simon Young, 85, of Brockton, made the trek to Fenway on Friday where he was among 151 people to receive the first of two vaccine doses required for immunity to the highly infectious coronavirus.
“It’s been stressful,” he said, of waiting for the opportunity to get immunized.
Marie Florence, a home health care aid, said “I finally feel protected” as she left Fenway with her husband.
Lisa Ivey, a home health care aid from Boston, felt “privileged” to be among the first to get a vaccine on Friday.
“I think it’s very imperative and important that on a federal and state level that we are acknowledged, respected and protected,” said the delegate for the 1199 SEIU union.
Vaccine Coordinator Chris Kaufmann of CIC Health said he “is like a hawk” when it comes to making sure every vaccine makes its way into an arm. Doses are stored in minus 80-degree freezers, thawed the night before and sorted into individual doses by Cataldo Ambulance employees, he said.
Red Sox officials celebrated the milestone, saying it’s perhaps the most important thing to ever happen at the ballpark in its 112-year history.
“Fenway has this amazing emotional impact on the region and on the community as a whole. We think this is probably the greatest responsibility that it’s had,” said Sarah McKenna, senior vice president of the Boston Red Sox.
Appointments at Fenway must be scheduled online in advance for now on the CIC Health website. Appointments are currently open for anyone eligible under Phase 1 of the state’s vaccine distribution plan, as well as people 75 and older, who will begin getting shots on Monday as the rollout moves into Phase 2.
From start to finish, appointments will take no longer than 45 minutes to an hour, CIC said.
CIC Health is also running operations at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough inoculating 2,000 people per day. The company hinted that it was getting ready to start up even more large-scale vaccination clinics, but were tight-lipped on details on Friday.
The ballpark has been through several transformations in the interest of the public amid the pandemic, including opening as an early voting location in the fall. Throughout the concourse, people will find selfie stations where they can pose with Red Sox mascot Wally and outlooks where they can catch a glimpse of the snow-covered field that has been closed to fans since the onset of the pandemic.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2MFAbqR
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