FOXBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - Staffers began administering coronavirus vaccines at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough as talks swirl about making Fenway Park in Boston another mass vaccination site.
The Putnam Club at Gillette Stadium was transformed into a vaccination site, with staff members receiving the COVID-19 vaccine Thursday.
“Just like getting a flu shot, and I think having it at Gillette is going to make people more comfortable coming here, opposed to having it at a hospital or medical clinic,” Officer Brendan Fayles of the Foxborough Police Department said.
“I think this marks the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s takes a community to come together, a public-private partnership to stay focused and bring to scale in a safe way vaccinations,” Dr. Eric Goralnick, Mass General Brigham’s Gillette Stadium Medical Director, said.
First responders and those living and working in congregate care settings will be able to get vaccinated at the stadium starting Monday.
Foxborough Fire Chief Michael Kelleher got vaccinated and expects that most of his people will decide to follow suit.
“It’s been extraordinarily challenging over the last nine months. We do everything together, eat together, meals, everybody works out together, trying to break that cycle this is especially a proud day for us because it signifies that start to getting on the road back to normal,” Kelleher said.
Boston’s Chief of Health and Human Services Marty Martinez announced Thursday that they are looking into the possibility of making Fenway Park another vaccination site.
The historic baseball park became a voting site for the first time in November.
“We are committed sites are available and accessible in all neighbors to make sure folks can get vaccinated,” Martinez said.
He added that he’s also asking the state to turn the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury into a vaccination site, with the goal to provide COVID-19 vaccines quickly and to as many people as possible.
“It’s incredibly complicated,” Martinez explained. “We need 75 to 80 percent of folks to get vaccinated.”
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)