Danvers Mass Vaccination Site To Ramp Down, Close In June

DANVERS, MA — One of the focal points of the state's coronavirus vaccination efforts early in the state rollout of the vaccine will slowly ramp down operations and close over the next six weeks.

The mass vaccination site in Danvers is one of four sites — including Gillette Stadium, the Hynes Convention Center and the Natick Mall — that Gov. Charlie Baker said will close by the end of June.

"We are adjusting our vaccine strategy to be more targeted," Baker said during a Monday news conference. "And we'll shift vaccines to smaller-scale operations that can focus on particular communities or particular populations."

Bakers said those shifts will include mobile vaccination efforts, community health centers and 22 regional collaborative sites. Salem State was approved as a regional vaccination site last week after it also served as one for first responders and public nurses early in the rollout before state allocation was funneled to the mass vaccination sites.

"Our mass vaccination sites have played a critical role in the Commonwealth's vaccination process over a very short period of time," Baker said. "At the mass vaccination sites, the Commonwealth has administered 1.2 million doses and fully vaccinated more than half a million people since the first site opened on Jan. 18."

Baker said vaccinations are now more readily available at nearly all vaccination sites across the state — including the mass vaccination site in Danvers — and that he encouraged all those ages 16 and older to get one as soon as possible ahead of the full end to state business restrictions.

Baker said Massachusetts is outpacing the rest of the country by "leaps and bounds" in COVID-19 vaccinations and will hit its goal of vaccinating 4.1 million people within weeks.

"These folks are still going to deliver a heckuva lot of vaccine over the course of the next 30 to 60 days," Baker said of Danvers, Gillette, Hynes and Natick. "I think it's somewhere in the vicinity of 430,000 doses — first and second shots — are still assumed to be going to occur of the mass vaccination sites."

Baker said the decision to close Danvers was based on "the availability of alternatives, which makes a big difference in this regard and the relative level of participation we expected as we move forward."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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