NORFOLK, Va. — The Community Vaccination Center at Military Circle Mall has had its ups and downs since it opened in March 2021, and, lately, the amount of traffic there has been on the "downs" side of that.
After administering more than 330,000 vaccine doses during the past year, the vaccine center coordinators are scaling back their efforts. The company AshBritt, which helps supply the COVID-19 doses and health care workers at the center, will end its time there on March 25.
The service provide there, however, is not going away entirely.
Paul Brumund, Chief Operations Officer with the Norfolk Public Health Department, said his team will take over and operate a clinic at Military Circle that will be open only on Tuesdays and Saturdays, beginning April 5.
"In the past week, we've seen about 200 people to get vaccinations and at one point we were seeing thousands in a week," said Brumund. "The footprint will be smaller, which gives us some options if we want to expand some services here, like testing if we want to do that. Back-to-school vaccinations will be coming up pretty soon. We might be able to use this space to do that."
Brumund said his team will remain flexible and ready to expand operations if needed.
"We still want to have a presence for the community. We feel it's important people know this site, because they're comfortable coming here. So, we want to continue it, so we can ride the next wave of vaccination demand."
When 14-year-old Zyon Sweatt got his COVID-19 booster at Military Circle on Friday, he noticed fewer people are showing up to the community vaccination center.
"I was expecting a whole big line. When we got here, I asked my mom if we got here two hours early, because why is nobody here?" said Sweatt.
Sweatt said it's clear there's a difference in the vaccine efforts.
"It does feel like the world is changing. It's trying to revert back to normal, but I hope we don't go too quickly or too fast," said Sweatt. "We should be happy, but we shouldn't take our foot off the gas pedal."
When the new clinic starts serving people on April 5, you can get your vaccine or booster on Tuesdays from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. or on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The clinic does not accept appointments.