Mass drive-thru vaccination site opens in East Hartford

Originally posted at The Day

Connecticut’s largest mass coronavirus vaccination drive-thru clinic opened on Monday at the former Pratt & Whitney Runway at 12 Runway Road in East Hartford.

When it gets up to speed, the 10-lane facility will administer 7,000 to 10,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine each week, according to a spokeswoman for Community Health Center Inc., which is operating the site.

“We will administer as many as we can every day,” Leslie Gianelli, the spokeswoman, said.

Gianelli said Community Health Center will open five or six other mass drive-up vaccination sites in the state in upcoming weeks, in locations such as Hartford, Bristol, New London and Stamford.

Gianelli said the site at first will administer vaccines only to people who fall into the 1A and 1B phases for vaccine rollout: medical first responders, health care workers and people 75 and older.

As more phases roll out, people in those categories will be accepted, she said.

The site is open by appointment only. Appointments can be made at chc1.com. Other, smaller vaccination sites can be accessed at that site.

Those who make appointments must verify their age or profession on site, Gianelli said.

The site will be open from Jan. 18 to 22, and seven days a week starting on Jan. 25.

People who make appointments are asked to show up as close to their appointment time as possible, to prevent car logjams.