MOORESTOWN The COVID vaccination mega site at the Moorestown Mall opened Friday morning.
Located in the anchor store space once occupied by Lord & Taylor, the mall is one of six vaccination mega sites in New Jersey. It can administer up to 40 shots at a time and 2,400 per day, according to Burlington County officials. It is also fully staffed and ready to go, added Virtua Health officials, who are providing much of the staffing.
The state mega site is just waiting on one thing: more vaccines.
Herb Conaway, Burlington County health director, said the vaccine distribution from the federal government certainly leaves much to be desired.
Vaccination megasites pop up in empty malls
By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business
Now that Covid-19 vaccination efforts are ramping up, local health officials are on the hunt for locations that can quickly be converted into vaccination clinics, and malls across the country, battered by declines in in-person shopping, are starting to play a role.
Mall operators are sitting on plenty of abandoned retail space that might be ideal for the purpose and some landlords hope that opening vaccination sites might bring in badly needed foot traffic.
When Dr. Herbert Conaway, the director of Burlington County Health Department in New Jersey, was looking for a location for one of the state s six vaccination megasites, he realized a local, shuttered Lord & Taylor might fit the bill.