Virginia to Open Mass Vaccination Center in Prince William Health District

Image by Prince William Health District

A mass COVID-19 vaccination center in Prince William is scheduled to open next week.

A Community Vaccination Center or CVC is a large-scale vaccination clinic that is able to vaccinate from hundreds to thousands in one day. CVCs were an initiative planned from the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis to support communities when more vaccines were made available.

Beginning next week, a CVC will be putting needles into arms in the Prince William Health District. The location is not public yet, but will be made public soon.

According to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) health departments and localities have been operating in response mode to the pandemic for a year, and one of the planning assumptions was that once the vaccine was more readily available, the health departments would be stretched very thin. VDEM officials say CVC sites are intended to augment the amazing work health departments, pharmacies, healthcare providers, and healthcare facilities across the state have been doing over the past few months to get shots into arms.

The super-size vaccination clinic is an operation organized by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM).  The CVCs are being stood-up in multiple areas in the state.  These chosen areas have the largest vulnerable populations and populations that have higher rates of COVID-19 illnesses and death.  According to VDEM, these sites were further identified using a health equity lens.

Those vaccinated at the CVC will come from the state’s pre-registration list.  If you are not pre-registered, now is the time to get registered.  To register, go to:  VACCINATE.VIRGINIA.GOV or call 1-877-VAX-IN-VA.

Announcement from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management

Image from the Virginia Dept. of Health

(RICHMOND, VA) — The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) and the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) have started to open Community Vaccination Centers across the Commonwealth to administer COVID-19 vaccinations on a larger scale. The site in Danville opened March 15; the site in Portsmouth will open March 16; Petersburg will open March 17; and Prince William is scheduled to open next week.

All of these events are by appointment only and no walk-ins will be accepted. Individuals, who have pre-registered for the vaccine and are eligible under the state’s current phase for distribution, will be contacted to make an appointment to receive their vaccine doses.

To pre-register, visit vaccinate.virginia.gov or call the COVID Vaccine Hotline at 1-877-VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682). Additional languages are available.  Below are some helpful hints for the public who are scheduled to visit one of these sites.

• Please plan to arrive no earlier than 20 minutes prior to your appointment time. You will not be allowed in early to receive your vaccine.
• No walk-ins will be accepted at this time. Please pre-register to be contacted for an appointment.
• Please plan to bring a copy of your invitation (email, text, barcode) or proof of your name when you arrive at the site.

These community vaccination centers will not replace other local, small-scale efforts to deliver COVID-19. These sites are state-managed and made possible thanks to FEMA funding that was granted to Virginia for the state’s continued response to COVID-19. The sites were selected after the Virginia Department of Emergency Management conducted an equity analysis to determine the communities with the largest number of vulnerable populations and communities with the largest percentage of vulnerable population and greatest COVID-19 impact.

For more information on COVID-19 in Virginia, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine/.