LEWES, Del. - Local doctor's office Aspira Health is launching a clinic at St. Jude's Catholic Church on Route One within the next week.
The new site will allow them to double their current vaccination rate. Last week, Aspira administered 1,000 doses. When they are at St. Jude’s, Aspira's goal is to give 400 to 600 shots a day, and average 2,000 shots a week for two months, as long as there is demand.
Doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived at Aspira on Monday, able to fulfill what Dr. William Albanese describes as a mass vaccination site at Saint Jude's Catholic Church.
“We were looking for a space, that was a large space, where we could do mass vaccinations and we could really pick up our pace and start getting people vaccinated as soon as possible. The church came to mind because I am a member of the parish over there, I’m a Knight at Saint Jude's parish,” said Dr. Albanese, CEO & Managing Director at Aspira.
He says ever since the church had to cancel their Friday fish dinners during Lent last year, it has stuck with him.
“So thinking of the church, we reached out to them and asked them if we can use their facilities to start vaccinating people with the hope that the sooner we get the public vaccinated, the sooner we can all return to normal and do our things, like those Lenten dinners, go out to bars restaurants, libraries, church, things like that,” said Dr. Albanese.
Right now Aspira is prioritizing second dose patients, and eligible frontline essential workers who haven't gotten vaccinated yet, like postal workers.
2,000 more doses are coming next week, and another 3,000 the following.
“We're also going to be running a clinic here simultaneously. Different days will be in different locations, we're going to utilize the church for weekdays and this location on the weekends,” he said.
Aspira says if they're administering 2,000 doses at St. Jude’s, they hope to do another 1,000 at their main building, and it's completely free.
“It's a crucial thing for us, it allows us to directly access Route One in a highly visible location so it's great for us to be able to vaccinate right there on the highway,” said Dr. Albanese.
An appointment is required to receive a vaccine. Aspira will open up online scheduling for the St. Jude’s vaccination clinic when it receives and prepares the allotted doses. Visit aspirahealth.net for more information.
However, vaccines are currently available at their brick and mortar location down the road. Both locations are only administering the Pfizer vaccine.