GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro's federal vaccine clinic will open at 8 a.m. on Wednesday to people in groups one, two, and three who have scheduled an appointment. The FEMA site at Four Seasons Town Centre has the capacity to vaccinate 3,000 people a day for eight weeks. That's nearly 170,000 doses just from this one clinic.
The clinic is a collaboration between the federal government and the state of North Carolina. Officials said the goal is to help get the vaccine quickly to as many people as possible, especially among under-served and historically marginalized communities.
Officials gave a first look at the indoor clinic when they held a tour of the facility to show what people can expect when they arrive.
Around 500 frontline workers in 'Group 3' took part in a dry run of the vaccination clinic.
Nearly 140 US Air force medics will be at stations where they plan to administer 3,000 shots daily. 50 members of the North Carolina National Guard, as well as more than 100 staff pulled in from the FEMA, NC DHHS, NC DPS, Guilford County, the mall, and construction contractors are part of the daily operation of the clinic.
Folks with either indoor or outdoor drive-through appointments will have to access the clinic from the Vanstory St. entrance.
If heading indoors, you would first have to check-in and verify your appointment at the front desk inside the mall.
There are volunteers who are available to assist with Spanish language translation as well as American Sign language.
After checking in, you would need to follow the signs.
Head past the H&M store first, turn right towards the Diamond District, and then take a left towards Zales.
Keep going! It's right around the corner.
You'll likely meet a socially-distanced line as you approach the clinic because it has a 32 person capacity limit.
You would have to check-in again at the desk where you would be asked a few questions and data entered before being ushered inside the clinic to the stations where you would receive your shots.
Vaccines are stored in freezers inside and must go into the arms of people within 6 hours.
Here's a look inside of the freezers.
"They have various work stations set up to properly mix the vaccines in along with drawing the doses up. They will have a team that's designed every hour to go out and deliver the doses to the inside clinic along with the outdoor drive-through clinic," Dr. Amanda Williford of NC DHHS said.
Transportation worker Andre Moore said he hadn't seen his mom in six months. "I told her I was getting it today. She has gotten both of her shots. I got my first one today and I have to come back on March 30 to get my second one," Moore said.
Now that he is getting vaccinated he said he and his mother can reunite next month and in time for the Easter holiday.
"I am the baby out of four so she's excited about that," Moore said.
If you're driving through, you would do that at the first set of tents to the right. Just follow the cones and the signs to show you what direction to head toward. The first set of tents are for check-in and registration before you would head on to the longer tents to have your shots administered.
North Carolina Emergency Management officials said they are well prepared to open the site Wednesday morning.
"We want to make sure we are penetrating those communities that are historically underserved," Mike Sprayberry, the director of NCEM said.
The phone number to schedule an appointment is 888-675-4567. To schedule online and get details about the clinic visit www.gsomassvax.org.
Meanwhile, U.S House lawmakers debated President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The bill passed the Senate over the weekend and the House is expected to pass it as early as Wednesday.
$14 billion of the American Rescue Plan would expand vaccine distribution including in North Carolina.