UofL Health opens appointments for Cardinal Stadium mass vaccination site

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Appointments opened Wednesday for the mass vaccination site opening at Cardinal Stadium.

Officials with UofL Health told WAVE 3 News more than 2,200 people signed up for a shot in the first four hours appointments were made available.

UofL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jason Smith said the site should be able to vaccinate about 24,000 people every week; it will be the largest vaccination site in Kentucky.

“I think everyone on our team is just ecstatic to be able to do this, we do see this as really that big final push,” Smith said.

The site is set to open from April 12 to May 28; it will feature two dozen drive-thru lanes in Cardinal Stadium’s purple lot.

“We’re planning on doing one vaccine every three minutes across 24 lanes, so 8 vaccines a minute moving through this site,” Smith said.

Anyone 16 and older will be eligible to make a vaccine appointment at the Cardinal Stadium site. The primarily drive-thru operation will also allow patients to walk up or take the bus.

“My guess is we can probably be in the 60 to 70% of the city vaccinated by the end of May if we’re lucky,” he said.

Smith said the state will set aside additional vaccine doses in preparation for April 12.

The Cardinal Stadium site will initially administer doses of the Pfizer vaccine, then doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

In April, Louisville’s mass vaccine site at Broadbent Arena will start to distribute its last doses and transition to primarily mobile outreach.

The University of Kentucky is also set to expand vaccine distribution with 11 new vaccine and testing sites across Kentucky. UK had already administered thousands of doses from its mass vaccine site at Kroger Field.

“We’ve doing approximately 20,000 a week but that’s only getting the central Kentucky region,” UK Chief of Police Joe Monroe said. “what we’re trying to do is make sure that we are providing access to vaccines across the commonwealth of Kentucky.”

Louisville will host three of UK’s new vaccine sites at Bellarmine University, Sullivan University and Spalding University.

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