DANVILLE, Va. – Thousands of people in the Danville area will now be able to can now get their coronavirus shot.
Calling it a game-changer, Pittsylvania/Danville Health District Director Dr. Scott Spillman, said the new mass vaccination center at the Danville Mall will administer up to 3,000 doses a day for the next several weeks inside the old JCPenney store.
The center helps target vulnerable communities like senior citizens and people of color.
“We are not stopping,” Spillman said. “We are not taking our feet off the gas pedal. We can still focus on our fragile community members and extend our outreach in many parts of the city and the county.”
Danville is one of three Virginia cities FEMA funded $179 million to host a regional mass vaccination center, with Portsmouth and Petersburg being the others.
Taking two months to organize the center, Curtis Brown, the state coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, said Danville was selected because of what he described as its social vulnerability.
“This site also provides opportunity economically to hire individuals in the community to support this as well,” said Brown.
City Manager Ken Larking said between the amount of space and the convenient location, “I hope our local people take advantage of that.”
The goal is to get 75% of the population vaccinated by May 1.
“For a while, it didn’t look like we were going to get there until the middle of the summer,” Spillman said. “But now we are able to step this up and we are really going to be pushing this.”
The center will be open for people with appointments from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. six days a week.
You can pre-register through the state’s registration website or by calling the COVID-19 Vaccine Hotline at 1-877-829-4682.