
SANFORD — Southern Maine Health Care and York County Emergency Management Agency will officially close the Sanford Vaccine Clinic at the Center for Shopping on June 29.
In the meantime, the clinic, which opened March 1, will continue to offer appointments and walk-in vaccine visits for patients 12 and older from 5 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays throughout June, said hospital spokeswoman Allison Kenty.
SMHC will shift its vaccine allocation to its primary care offices in Biddeford, Saco, Sanford, and Kennebunk as well as it’s walk-in care centers in Saco, Sanford, and Waterboro.
“It’s time now to shift our approach and meet those who have not been vaccinated where they are,” said Susan Keiler, vice president of Strategic Business Development at SMHC. “Thanks to our volunteers, SMHC employees and York County EMA staff who made our high-volume clinic in Sanford a success in quickly delivering over 40,000 doses of vaccine in York County.”
How many doses over 40,000? Well, as of Monday May 25, the team had delivered 23,432 first doses and 21,205 second vaccine doses, said Kenty.
Statewide, as of May 27, 58.5 percent of eligible Mainers aged 12 and older had been fully vaccinated.
York County commissioners in February unanimously approved the lease of the space with CFC Limited Partnership. The county is reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for those costs, plus other expenses like personnel and equipment, said York County Emergency Management Agency Director Art Cleaves.
“After more than a year of dealing with COVID outbreak after outbreak, being able to provide a large-scale vaccination clinic to be available to all residents of York County has given everyone who has been involved with the set-up and the operation of the clinic a heartwarming feeling of a huge accomplishment,” said Cleaves. “And there are so very many individuals who should be thanked for their roles — being part of something that is providing a way for everyone to finally get out in front of a global pandemic of historic proportion.”
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