The Auburn Mall is set to become Maine’s sixth mass COVID-19 vaccination site later this month, with the capacity to administer up to 1,000 doses per day in Maine’s second-largest metro area.
The site, run by Central Maine Healthcare in collaboration with the cities of Lewiston and Auburn as well as the state, is set to open March 17. After a ramp-up period, the hospital system hopes to be able to administer 1,000 doses up to five days per week.
Registration at the site will be available through Central Maine Healthcare, which has already been administering vaccines at its hospitals in Lewiston, Rumford and Bridgton. The hospital system will draw on resources from its Lewiston vaccine clinic for the new site, but the other two clinics will remain operational, according to a release.
The site should help include capacity in Androscoggin County, which has a younger population than Maine overall and has trailed in the state’s early vaccination campaign, with only 13.7 percent of its population having received one dose compared to 17.2 percent of Maine’s total population, according to state data.
Maine has already seen mass vaccination sites open at Scarborough Downs, the Augusta Civic Center, the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor and a shopping center in Sanford. A fifth site located at the Maine Mall in South Portland is set to open later this week.