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Southside church to become Richmond's next mass vaccination site

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Posted at 5:05 PM, Mar 18, 2021
and last updated 2021-03-20 09:23:10-04

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts (RHHD) will launch a new mass vaccination clinic at Celebration Church off Midlothian Turnpike in South Richmond on Tuesday.

The clinic will be by appointment only and will serve between 800 to 1,000 people per day. It will initially only run one day a week.

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"It's what we did when we started with Arthur Ashe, we did a few mass vaccination events there, and we kind of assessed how they went," said RHHD's Nurse Manager Amy Popovich. "This is in addition to the small mobile events at independent living facilities and our medium-sized events."

Popovich said the daily capacity at the Arthur Ashe Center vaccination site has increased from 1,000 to 1,400.

Among those getting the vaccine on Thursday was Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.

Stoney, who contracted COVID-19 last year, encouraged everyone to get vaccinated.

"It's no joke. It's the real deal and we've lost lives here in the city of Richmond due to the coronavirus," Mayor Stoney said. "You should do everything necessary to prevent yourself from getting sick, but also prevent the transmission to others as well."

Richmond and Henrico remain a few weeks away from transitioning from Phase 1b vaccinations to Phase 1c.

"We have plenty of people still yet in Phase 1b who need vaccinations before we move on to 1c," Popovich said. "But we expect to be on track to open up 1c in April."

Popovich added that plans are in the works to set up the district's next community hub. Each one operates for six weeks (to cover first and second doses) and the initial one is currently being held at Second Baptist Church.

She said when that finishes, the next location will be in eastern Henrico County. While not provided the specific location, Popovich said that it will be somewhere in the Varina District.