GAME DAY AT GILLETTE: MASS. OPENS FIRST MASS COVID-19 VACCINATION SITE
MILFORD DAILY NEWS
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.
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.
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.