City officials expect to administer about a thousand doses of the Moderna vaccine now at Louisville's first mass coronavirus vaccination site at the Kentucky Exposition Center.
The drive-through site at Broadbent Arena isn't yet available to the general public, but officials aspire to scale it up as supplies grow and also the city moves to the next phase of vaccinations.
“This is an excellent facility for administering the vaccine. From the weather, clean, drive through, plenty of parking space, we expect that we'll be vaccinating for weeks and months to come,” said Mayor Greg Fischer.
A temperature check at Louisville’s first mass vaccination site at Broadbent Arena on January 4, 2021.
Louisville Interim Medical Director Dr. SarahBeth Hartlage said the town received its first doses at 11 a.m. December 23rd, began vaccinating people inside the first few hours and hang in the drive-thru site in just 8 days.
Volunteers are operating the site. People with appointments simply drive up, undergo a clinical screening and get the vaccination, Hartlage said. Afterwards, they'll sit inside a parking area under medical supervision for around 15 minutes before heading enroute.
“We’ll be giving about 150 doses here today and about 1,000 doses here now and increasing each week thereafter,” Hartlage said.
Mayor Greg Fischer at Louisville’s first mass vaccination site at Broadbent Arena on January 4, 2021.
For now, the vaccinations are by appointment only and reserved for health care personnel who come under the phase 1a group outlined through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
City officials hope to vaccinate a lot more than 20,000 independent medical service providers to begin including personnel generally working outside the hospital system such as doctor and dentist offices, said Hartlage.
Louisville expects to use the Broadbent Arena site along with hospitals and pharmacies to administer vaccines within the weeks and months to come.
