NEWS

Vaccination site for MBTA employees will be set up at former Lowe's building in Quincy

By Mia McCarthy
Boston University Statehouse Reporter

BOSTON – The MBTA could begin vaccinating its employees at a new Quincy vaccination site within the next few weeks. 

“COVID continues to be an active concern at the MBTA,” general manager Steve Poftak said during a Fiscal and Management Control Board meeting earlier this month.

The Lowe's home improvement story on Burgin Parkway closed several years ago.

Poftak said at the meeting that the agency plans to use a former Lowe's home improvement store on Burgin Parkway to vaccinate employees. The state took control of the building and land last year and the MBTA plans to build a bus depot on the site near the Quincy Adams station.

The MBTA has not said when the vaccination clinic would open.

“We continue to discuss actively with our state partners when and how much we will be receiving in terms of vaccines,” Poftak said. “The date and amount are still to be determined but we want to be ready and have the capability in place to begin giving these out to our employees.”

During the meeting, Poftak said the MBTA’s target rate is 200 vaccines per day with the potential to increase. According to the MBTA website, the agency will “prioritize job classifications that have a high exposure risk and are critical to the daily operations of our transit system.” 

More:Vaccination outreach a local effort as state's process criticized

Gov. Charlie Baker placed MBTA workers into Group 3 of Phase 2 in his state vaccination rollout plan. Massachusetts entered Group 2 of Phase 2 Thursday.

“MBTA employees are front-line workers who provide critical transit services to the region, transporting essential workers such as health care providers and others,” Lisa Battiston from the MBTA press office wrote in an email. “Without healthy public transportation employees, transit services cannot be delivered.”

Nearly 3,600 employees had pre-registered for vaccinations as of Feb. 4. The agency is encouraging employees to pre-register so it can estimate how many vaccines will be needed.

More:State to stop supporting local vaccination clinics in all but 20 communities

“We need to use every dose of the vaccine we are allocated in order to receive more. This is the same on the state level in order to receive more doses from the federal government,” the MBTA said on its website. “We will not let any vaccinations go to waste.”

Poftak said this pre-registration process is an important part of the vaccine rollout plan and is open to MBTA employees and contractors, including those at The RIDE paratransit and Keolis Commuter Rail services. According to the MBTA website, the agency hopes to vaccinate every employee but cannot guarantee it.

Poftak said the agency is trying to “not only understand what the potential demand is within the T but also understand that demand and then understand how the phasing is going to work.” Poftak also said vaccinations are not mandatory for employees. 

The MBTA has offered free testing for employees at a facility in Everett. There have been over 5,000 tests completed and testing is ongoing.

According to the MBTA press office, there are 71 active COVID cases as of Feb. 17 among its approximate 6,375 employees.

“We’re headed in the right direction but obviously that number is still very high,” Poftak said in the meeting earlier this month. 

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. Please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. 

More:Subscribe to patriotledger.com: Presidents' Day special rate is $1 for 6 months