Fairgrounds Vaccine Drive-Thru Reopens, But for How Long? [VIDEO]

Dr. John Vanchiere from LSU Health talks about the reopening of the COVID drive-thru at the Fairgrounds and the availability of the vaccine.

The facility, which closed recently due to a shortage of the COVID vaccine, resumed operation Monday morning and according to Dr. Vanchiere, will remain open as long as the current vaccine lasts.

"We have vaccine on hand for about a thousand a day for the next few days," Vanchiere says, "I've been all weekend scheduling the people who were pre-registered in the order they were pre-registered so that everybody maintains their place in line.

"They should have received an email from me. Those few who didn't receive an email from me and they were rejected by their email server, we're going to be calling them...to let them know."

Vanchiere adds that the Fairgrounds clinic hours will once again be from 8 til 4 "and scheduled in two hour blocks" and those on the list should have already received notification of their times.

"We have a commitment of 4,000 (doses), so a thousand a day for the next four days," he says, adding that a total of nearly 6,000 locals over the age of 70 are on the current list.

"We will not get to everybody registered in the next few days. We've petitioned the state for more vaccine to start next week again. We have a little over 62 hundred registered over-70s who want the vaccine and we'll be able to take care of about 4,000 of those in the next few days."