NFL to open every stadium in league as a COVID-19 vaccination site
The NFL is opening all 30 stadiums in the league to help administer COVID-19 vaccines.
Commissioner Roger Goodell told President Joe Biden in a letter on Thursday that every team in the league would “make its stadium available for mass vaccinations of the general public,” according to CNBC.
That news will undoubtedly help communities across the country speed up their respective vaccination processes.
Many NFL stadiums have already been transformed into coronavirus testing and vaccination sites. State Farm Stadium in Arizona is the state’s largest vaccination center, and is now running 24 hours a day. The Falcons, Ravens, Panthers, Texans, Dolphins and Patriots had also opened up to vaccination centers.
“We can expand our efforts to stadiums across the nation more effectively because many of our clubs have offered their facilities as COVID testing centers as well as election sites over the past several months,” Goodell wrote to Biden. “We look forward to further discussion with your administration as well as your partners in state and local governments to advance this effort. Thank you for your leadership and for allowing the NFL to assist your public health efforts.”
Several MLB teams have opened up their facilities for testing and vaccinations, too. The Los Angeles Dodgers were running the largest testing facility at Dodger Stadium last year, and have since converted it into a vaccination site — though it was briefly shut down last month by protestors. Yankee Stadium officially opened up on Friday as a mass vaccination center in the Bronx, too.
About 28 million people had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Thursday, according to The New York Times, and almost seven million had received both doses. Most states are still in early stages of the vaccination process, and are only offering them to high-risk groups and essential workers.
Drivers wait in line to get the COVID-19 vaccine in the parking lot of the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. (AP/Terry Tang)
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