Gillette Stadium Mass COVID Vaccination Site Closes
FOXBORO (CBS) – The first of the mass COVID vaccination sites closed on Monday, a day before the state of emergency in Massachusetts ends.
The Gillette Stadium vaccination site in Foxboro shut down at 6 p.m., nearly five months after opening its doors to the public on January 18.
"It's great to be vaccinated," said Alice Kobres, the final person vaccinated at Gillette. "I haven't seen my family in over a year because they live in Georgia. I can't wait to see them again because it's going to be amazing."
It was the first-of-its-kind in the Commonwealth, providing a venue in mid-January where health care workers and first responders could get shots on a large scale. Gillette eventually welcomed the general public to get vaccinated.
"We knew that just like there was a ramp-up period in vaccinating all the people, eventually we would ramp down. That was the goal, the mission was to be able to vaccinate as many people as possible, as safely, efficiently, and also have them have a great experience at the stadium as they come through and I think we've done that," said Rodrigo Martinez of CIC Health, which ran the Gillette site.
By the end of the day Monday, Gillette Stadium administered 610,238 doses.
Northeastern University student Adam Birmingham was one of the last people to get their shot at Gillette. "It feels great," he said. "I wish I had gotten it done sooner."
Gillette Stadium is the first of the seven mass vaccination sites to be closed in the next month as the state begins to focus on community-based vaccination efforts.
The mass vaccination sites will close on the following dates:
- Gillette Stadium – June 14
- Hynes Convention Center – June 22
- Natick Mall – June 23
- Reggie Lewis Center – June 27
- Danvers Doubletree Hotel – June 30
- Eastfield Mall – July 6
- Old Circuit City in Dartmouth – July 13
"With these sites closing down I really did want to get them now before it becomes even harder, and the ease of access is more limited," said Coralyn Almeida at Gillette.
"I was pretty excited, I really wanted to get in here and just get my final dose and just live maskless, just go out and kind of forget about this whole thing," said Matt Curreri on Monday. "Just to think about the amount of vaccines that were administered at this location, and the amount of people that really came together to make this whole thing happen and just a great place."
Any unused doses at Gillette will be returned to Mass General/Brigham.
