Lockport, N.Y. (WBEN) - Niagara County has ramped up vaccinations this week with the addition of a mass vaccination site at the Transit Drive-In on Transit Road in Lockport.
"Over the last two days, we did around 2,000 vaccinations each day, for a
total of about 4,000," said Niagara County Public Health Director
Dan Stapleton. "It's a major undertaking, but this is a good example of getting
the vaccine and using it right away."
Niagara County Department of Health
The Drive-In has five screens and multiple parking lots, which is the key.
"It's a well orchestrated process. The cars snake through the parking lots and
we have 13 tents with staff and volunteers," said Stapleton. "We have retired physicians, retired pharmacists, public health nurses, RN's, EMT's, paramedics all doing the vaccinations."
It takes about 3 minutes per shot and then the cars move to a post-observation area in another parking lot. There is a 15 minute wait to make sure there are no adverse reactions.
People never have to leave their cars.
How long can Niagara County sustain this at this site? "As long as Rick Cohen will have us," said Stapleton. Cohen is the owner the Transit Drive-In. The Drive-In site is open to anyone from New York State.
Niagara County currently has three vaccination sites. The Drive-In, Niagara Falls Conference and Events Center(a state run site) and Eastern Niagara Hospital.
"We scrape by every week to get vaccine," said Stapleton. "It's a seven day a week challenge to ask for additional vaccine. It never stops," he said.
