Riverhead opened up a COVID vaccination site for the first time today.
Sun River Health is vaccinating seniors age 65 and older at the Riverhead Senior Center on Shade Tree Lane.
Sun River Health will be administering 1,000 first doses of the Moderna vaccine at the senior center over the next four days — 250 shots per day — Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said. Second doses will be administers at the site 28 days after the first dose.
All 1,000 doses are booked, but the town is continuing to preregister seniors on the town website and by phone for the next shipment of vaccines to the Riverhead site, which the supervisor said she expects will occur “in the next week or two.” People who preregister with the town will be contacted by the town on a first-come, first serve basis to make an appointment when the town is notified a new shipment will be arriving.
Aguiar said the senior center site was certified “after much advocacy” with the state — “about 30 letters and phone calls and advocating at meetings,” she said.
“The state decides where the vaccines go,” Aguiar said.
Councilman Ken Rothwell commended the supervisor for the effort she and her staff put in to getting the site certified, getting the vaccines and booking appointments.
“She’s been relentless,” Rothwell said of Aguiar, “and her staff has been tremendous.
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