Coronavirus Vaccine Supersite To Open At Worcester State Campus

WORCESTER, MA — A long-anticipated coronavirus vaccine supersite will open at Worcester State University, officials announced Thursday, with the first shots available by appointment starting on Feb. 16.

City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. has for several weeks talked about the city's plans to open a supersite, but declined to release more details pending state approval of the site. The Worcester State hub joins Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium and the Eastfield Mall in Springfield as the state's fourth supersite.

Like the other supersites, the Worcester State site will be open to anyone from across the state. The site will be open Tuesday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and will have the capacity to dole out about 1,000 shots per day. Officials hope capacity can ramp up later to 2,000 per day.

The supersite will be inside the gym at Worcester State's wellness center, 486 Chandler St. UMass Medical School's Commonwealth Medicine, Saint Vincent Hospital and Worcester State will staff the site and administer shots. UMass is recruiting volunteers for the site.

As of Thursday — and possibly when Feb. 16 comes — only people over age 75 and groups in phase one are eligible to get the vaccine. But in the coming weeks, frontline workers, people over 65 and people with two or more complex medical conditions will be able to get vaccinated.

"As each of these new sites come online, it opens up that funnel, opens up the availability and that's what we're all about," Augustus said.

Officials also said local pharmacies will likely start offering vaccines. On Wednesday, CVS said one of its Worcester stores in Worcester will get doses. Two Price Chopper pharmacies and one at Big Y will also offer the vaccine, according to the state vaccine map. Sign-ups for the Worcester supersite will also be available on the state's website.