Snowstorm won’t stop Cross Insurance Center COVID-19 vaccination clinic opening

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - Northern Light Health has spent the last 3 days constructing a mass vaccination clinic at the Cross Insurance Center.

Despite a snowy forecast that clinic is scheduled to open and vaccinate 900 people tomorrow.

We took a tour of the clinic Monday afternoon.

Dark for months, Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center a flurry of activity over a 72 hour period leading up to Tuesday’s first clinic.

“In this particular area, we will have 22 check in tables, 20 vaccination tables, and our plan is to eventually increase to 40 vaccination stations so that we can do in excess of 2000 vaccines a day,” said Northern Light Health’s Dr. James Jarvis.

He told reporters that every Northern Light Health vaccination clinic will be open Tuesday despite an expected sizeable snowfall.

“The problem with that is logistics,” he explained. “We feel that we can safely get people through this line. We know this is Maine and weather will happen, so we don’t want to get into the habit of having to reschedule clinic after clinic. We know at some point we’ll be doing this daily, so pushing it down the line is not an option for us. Well, this week we did have that capability, we felt it was in the best interest of everyone to stay with the plan that we have in place.”

Those with appointments will be able to tune to an FM radio station on site that will alert them when to enter. Jarvis says the Cross Center’s long concourse will ensure that no one will be left waiting in the cold.

Barring an adverse reaction, people will be in and out quickly.

“It’s our goal to have that in under 45 minutes,” said Jarvis.

Northern Light will work to reschedule anyone that misses their appointment because of the weather. They are also aware that because of less than ideal road conditions, they will be handling late arrivals, too.

“If they show up late, that’s fine,” he said. “We wish they would show up on time, but we understand there will be logistical issues. While our last appointment time is 3PM, we know that we will be here longer to continue to administer as long as we have people that are scheduled and we have vaccine on site. We understand the weather happens in Maine.”

Jarvis says the clinic at the Cross Center will remain in place until every person in the state has been vaccinated.

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