Cleveland Prepares For Mass COVID Vaccination Site Opening This Week

More than 200,000 people are expected to receive COVID-19 vaccines at the mass vaccination clinic in Cleveland over the next 8 weeks, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Sunday.

The mass vaccination clinic at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center is a partnership between the state of Ohio and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and it will have the capacity to administer 6,000 COVID-19 vaccines a day.

It was previously reported that the site would open on Wed. March 17, but DeWine clarified there would be a "soft opening" on Tuesday, March 16 followed by an official opening to the public on Wednesday.  

Most appointments for the first week are filled, officials said. People must have an appointment to receive the vaccine at the site.

Registration reopens tomorrow (Monday) on the state’s websiteor by calling 833-427-5634. 

In the first three weeks of the mass vaccination clinic, officials expect to give some 126,000 shots of the Pfizer vaccine.

Weeks 4-6 will be the second doses for all of the people who received the vaccine in the first three weeks. 

In the final two weeks, some 84,000 people are expected to receive the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the site. 

The number of shots given at the site will ramp up slowly and will reach the maximum of 6,000 per day by March 22, DeWine said.

“We have found and have learned in other states where they have done these sites that they have done these ramp-ups,” DeWine said. “They have not just walked in and said, ‘Bam, we’re going to do all that in one day.’”

The vaccine doses received from the Biden administration and FEMA are the state’s to use and distribute, he said. They don’t have to be given out at the Wolstein Center.

It is possible Ohio will use mobile clinics for some of the vaccinations and those mobile clinics might not require an appointment, the governor said at the news briefing.

A percentage of the vaccines will be allocated to community partners, like the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, faith-based organizations, and the NAACP, to bring more vaccines to underserved communities.

Many people of color have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with greater proportions of people from those communities who have become seriously ill or who have died from COVID-19.

“Many underserved communities rely on community partners for information about health care and also for the delivery of health care,” DeWine said. “So it just makes sense to be using these community partners to reach everyone.”

DeWine said these partners will be given as many vaccine appointments as they can fill, but if they are unfilled 48 hours before the appointment time, anyone will be able to sign up to receive the vaccine. 

Cleveland Clinic announced Sunday via email that they will store the vaccine inventory for the site. The hospital system received 45,000 doses of Pfizer. 

"Our facility includes over a dozen secure ultracold freezers, which are needed to store the vaccine product," hospital officials announced in the email. "Our pharmacists, along with pharmacists from other local hospitals, will also be on-site to assist in drawing up the vaccines and ensure the quality of the product."

The City of Cleveland released details of plans for parking to get to the mass vaccination site. Parking at CSU garages will be free to the public during the eight-week clinic 

A map outlining free parking sites and parking restrictions can be found here: View the map here.

There will be parking restrictions during the clinic from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.

• E. 18^th: No parking on both sides of the street from Carnegie to Euclid.
• E. 19^th: No parking on both sides of the Street from Carnegie to the Central Ave. Extension
• E. 21^st: No parking on both sides of the street from Carnegie to Euclid.
• Carnegie Avenue: No parking on both sides of the street from E. 18^th  to E. 21^st.
• Prospect Avenue: No parking on both sides of the street from E. 18^th to E. 21^st.
• Central Avenue: No parking on both sides of the street from E. 18^th to E. 19^th.