Preparations are underway at the Minneapolis Convention Center where starting tomorrow more than 9,500 COVID 19 vaccines will be given out.
It is an invite-only event that will last three days, with only those over the age of 65, educators and child care providers getting the shot.
Participants will have received an email from Vault Health, the organization putting on the event confirming their appointment, “They have been selected randomly from the waitlist and they will be getting their appointments via email today,” said Dan Feehan, director of vaccinations for Vault Health.
The weather is going to be a factor with dangerously cold temperatures and they do not want anyone to have to wait outside. Parking inside a heated garage is free, and those getting the shot can bring someone if they need help getting around.
Inside the ballroom, there will be 41 spots to give out shots, “That gets us through 3200 people on the first day, 3200 on the second day, and another 3100 on the third day.” Feehan said.
The plan is to set up another mass vaccination center in Duluth on Monday, and they will continue to provide shots every weekend as long as they can.
“Our goal is to have that experience be as easy, as possible and as painless as possible,” Feehan said.
The entire process should take each person about a half an hour.
Feehan recently ran for Congress in Minnesota’s First Congressional district.
“I've been a soldier. I've worked at the Pentagon. I've been a middle school math teacher and I've been a politician. I use each and every one of those roles in this job every single day,” he said. “This is a vaccination challenge, a health challenge, a logistics challenge and a communications challenge.”
Another mass vaccination center is operating in St Cloud.
“I ran the St. Cloud vaccination sites last two weekends so I can speak to this a little bit.” Said Andrew Virden, with the Minnesota Department of Health. “ You have a lot of very happy people who are coming in, people who have scheduled the appointment people have been waiting for this appointment. It's very moving when you see people who have come to the vaccination site and say to you this is the first time I’ve been out of my house since the lockdown.”
In one case, he said he noticed a woman who was leaving the site and looked distraught.
“When I talked to her, she said I haven't hugged my children, my grandchildren, since March, and maybe this is the path for me to be able to get back there.”
So far, a little over 43,000 people have been vaccinated in Minnesota over the last couple of weeks
