Roy Wilkins Auditorium Prepped To Provide COVID Vaccinations
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — In the coming days, 15,000 Minnesota educators and childcare workers are expected to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in St. Paul.
Typically known as an entertainment venue, beginning Thursday, Roy Wilkins Auditorium will serve another purpose—welcoming people looking for a vaccine, not a concert.
"We have to have 375 people move through here in an hour in order to hit 3,000 vaccinations each day," said Amanda Frie, state incident commander.
K-12 educators and staff, along with child care workers across the Twin Cities, have signed up to receive the Moderna vaccine. Twenty-eight days later they'll return to the vaccination pop-up site to get a second dose.
The set-up at Roy Wilkins Auditorium is based partially on what worked well at the nine pilot sites that ran across the state last weekend. As part of the learning process, some adjustments have been made.
After taking temperatures and administering masks, nurses will send arrivals to one of six lanes that feed into six vaccination stations. The National Guard will also be there to help.
"They will be helping with traffic and site flow. Getting people where they need to go. Somebody needs to go all the way down to lane six, they will get them down that way," said Frie.
The hope is that it only takes about 5 or 6 minutes to go from check in to receiving the vaccine from a nurse.
"I'm confident that this is going to be a great event. I'm really looking forward to it. I think it will be really great," said Frie.
People will be asked to wait 15 minutes after receiving the vaccine to make sure they don't have an allergic reaction.
The vaccination site will run through Monday.