The Mass Vaccination Center at the Ernest N. Morial Conference Center will deliver shots on Wednesday, which will add another way for residents in the area to receive coronavirus vaccines while officials prepare them for larger supplies.
About 700 people will receive the shots at the facility on Wednesday, according to LCMC Health officials, who will manage the federally funded facility along with the Department of Health in New Orleans and the state.
Hundreds of doses are offered on the site Thursday and Friday, when LCMC, like other health care providers in Louisiana, expects the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“We will start tomorrow and move on Thursday and the weekend,” said dr. Jeffrey Elder of University Medical Center, director of emergency surgery at LCMC Health, told a New Orleans city council committee on Tuesday. “We expect to be able to vaccinate next week as well.”
The vaccinations are offered to residents who are eligible through LCMC or the city’s health department. Agreements are needed to prevent the existence of long, first-come-first-served rules that have plagued similar mass movements elsewhere in the country.
On Wednesday, vaccinations will be given to people who have already been selected from the waiting lists. People who want to sign up for later dates can make appointments on Wednesday at 07:00.
The opening comes a week after LCMC officials first announced they would use the Convention Center building to vaccinate a large number of residents. The plan, according to them, was to start with hundreds of daily doses and then rush to thousands as more supplies arrive.
Since the deployment of the U.S. vaccine in December, most people who have been able to receive the shots in Louisiana have received it through a constellation of pharmacies, clinics and hospitals.
But over the past few weeks, hospitals and local officials have accelerated plans for larger facilities that will eventually serve thousands of people a day.
Ochsner Health said it would host a vaccination event at the Shrine on Airline on Thursday, where it plans to administer 2,000 shots of the Pfizer vaccine. Half of the doses go to patients who received their first dose a month ago during a drive-through event, while the rest go to residents who can make an appointment through Ochsner.
Jefferson Parish said it will also host a drive-through event Thursday at the Alario Center, which is also by appointment.
More than 657,000 Louisiana residents received at least one dose of vaccine, while nearly 370,000 received both doses, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
Elder has been distributing more than 60,000 vaccines under the Pfizer or Moderna brands since December, Elder said shots that require cold storage or shipping, and that need to be taken in two doses in a few weeks.
But it is set, like other hospitals in the state, to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week. That vaccine requires normal cooling temperatures and can be taken in single dose.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 72% effective in preventing moderate to severe cases of coronavirus in US clinical trials, but 100% effective in preventing death. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, meanwhile, are more than 94% effective in preventing the symptoms of COVID-19.
Residents will be offered no matter what vaccine LCMC has available, health leaders said. Elder praised the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine Tuesday as an effective way to prevent people from dying from the virus and eventually reaching herd immunity.
“It keeps them out of the hospitals, and it does not keep them dead,” he said. “We can not underestimate how important it is to get people into the clinics to get them vaccinated.”
LCMC is using a waiting list of recipients compiled by the city health department and its own hospitals for this week’s launch in the conference center. Only people aged 65 and over, people with certain health conditions, K-12 or day care teachers, pregnant people and other select groups are eligible for the vaccinations.
The hospital operator also works with the Regional Transit Authority to identify places where people can be picked up and drive directly to the conference center to receive their shots.
There will probably be two pick-up points, one in New Orleans East and one in Algiers, said dr. Ayame Dinkler, LCMC Head of Health, said.
Residents who can drive to the center to be vaccinated can park their cars in parking lot F, opposite Hall J.
With a mass vaccination site, a city hall spokesman said Tuesday that the city is closing its own COVID-19 test sites and establishing its focus on vaccine administration.
Beau Tidwell, spokesman, says the test areas managed by the National Guard of Louisiana and by CORE will continue to serve residents.
The city is also looking for volunteers who can help it maintain its nationwide vaccination list, assist at the 311 call center in the city and work on vaccines in the city. About 2,000 people have signed up so far, but the city hopes to at least double that number.
Workers who report for help are considered emergency response personnel under the state guidelines, although there is no guarantee that enough vaccines will be available to all who do enroll, said New Orleans Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Manager Laura Mellem.
Appointment details and contact details:
To make an appointment with LCMC Health, eligible residents can call 504-290-5200 or go online at lcmchealth.org/vaccine.
To make an appointment with Jefferson Parish, eligible residents can call 504-518-4020 or go online at covidvaccinations.jeffparish.net.
To make an appointment with Ochsner Health, eligible residents can call (844) 888-2772 or use the MyOchsner Patient Portal online.
A full schedule of all New Orleans public testing sites can be found at https://ready.nola.gov/incident/coronavirus/calenda
Staff writers Jeff Adelson and Faimon A. Roberts III contributed to this story.