Ohio to administer 6K vaccines daily at Cleveland clinic

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A mass vaccination clinic with the capacity to administer 6,000 COVID-19 vaccines a day will open in Cleveland this month with support from the Biden administration, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Friday.

The community vaccination center will open on March 17 at Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland after state and federal officials designated the area based on its proximity to high-risk communities and medically underserved populations.

“Now that the supply of vaccine is significantly increasing, this is the perfect time for a large-scale clinic in Ohio to bolster our work to get shots in arms quickly, efficiently, and equitably,” DeWine said in a release Friday morning.

The site in Cleveland joins the nearly 20 FEMA-supported sites that have been announced by the White House in recent weeks as part of a broader effort by the administration to get shots into arms more quickly and reach minority communities hit hard by the outbreak.

The area around the clinic was identified through the CDC as having a moderately socially vulnerable population. Of the 25,000 people that live within 1 mile of the Wolstein Center, more than 60% are minorities, 6.36% are elderly and almost 45% of households live in poverty.

The doses that will be administered at the center will be in addition to the state’s regular vaccine allotment after many governors became reluctant to take part if it meant sharing part of their statewide allocation.

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Farnoush Amiri is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.