Gwinnett Place Mall’s Sears location now the county’s mass COVID-19 vaccination site

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The Gwinnett County Health Department has opened a new mass COVID-19 vaccination site at the former Gwinnett Place Mall’s Sears location.

It will be a dedicated site where health officials can continue vaccinating people.

[SPECIAL SECTION: COVID-19 Vaccine in Georgia]

Today’s opening is just a soft launch, servicing a few hundred people -- followed by up to 1,000 people on Saturday.

It’s by appointment only, and the next week’s slots are all filled.

Dentist Emma Deal was one of the first to get her shot at the newly created mass vaccination site.

“I think this is going to be a great location,” Deal said.

Officials said this location, an old mall designed for parking and easy of access, is perfect. There is plenty of room inside to spread out.

[LINK: Where to find the COVID-19 vaccine in Georgia]

Channel 2′s Tony Thomas was there to see 20 stations set up to give shots along with a lot of waiting areas. And there’s room to expand.

“As we start receiving more vaccines, we will be able to build this up to provide up to 20,000 vaccines per week at this location,” said Gwinnett County Public Health Director Dr. Audrey Arona. “We can run a lot of people through here safely.

For now, it will be about 6,000 vaccines per week until more doses are shipped.

Nurse Jalpa Patel said she wishes she was one of the people who had been vaccinated at the location. She said she’s tried to book a spot for weeks with no luck -- and she’s already had COVID once.

“I’ve gone on Hall County, I’ve tried Gwinnett County, Forsyth County,” Patel said. “I don’t want to be isolated in my downstairs bedroom again.

Arona said the great thing about moving operations to a centralized location is that it will allow for easy expansion.

“The best thing about it is, as our vaccine allotments grow, we will be able to expand greatly and we will be ready to do that,” Arona said.

Arona said she hopes to receive increased shipments by the end of the month.

Those who have received their first shot in Gwinnett County will need to go to this new location for their second dose.

The location of the site is 2100 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth.

More than 1 million COVID-19 vaccines given out so far, Gov. Kemp says This comes as the Department of Public Health says there are now 23 confirmed cases of the highly contagious UK variant across the state.

Cox Media Group