February 26th, 2021
Monroe County to supply COVID-19 vaccine, with first clinic scheduled for Thursday, March 4
Rochester, NY – County Executive Adam Bello and Mayor Lovely Warren are pleased to announce that Monroe County, the City of Rochester, Wegmans and the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce will be partnering to vaccinate public-facing grocery store employees, including those who work at independent grocery stores, convenience stores and bodegas.
“Grocery store employees have been on the front lines since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, playing a critical role in providing goods and services that are needed throughout these unprecedented times, while keeping our public health at the forefront,” said County Executive Bello. “Monroe County is fortunate to have many great corporate partners, including Wegmans, which is yet again stepping up to help our community get through the pandemic. Wegmans’ experience hosting large-scale vaccination clinics is key to ensuring the success and ability to duplicate the effort moving forward, and I’m grateful for their partnership.”
“Throughout the pandemic, our truly essential workers – our health care, grocery store and restaurant employees and others – the people who truly make daily life possible – have suffered greatly,” said Mayor Warren. “It is only right and equitable to ensure they have dedicated access to the vaccine. That’s why I am pleased that our community is coming together collaboratively to provide these truly essential workers access to life-saving vaccines.”
The first clinic is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 4th from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and then each Thursday to follow, provided vaccine remains available. Monroe County will establish a scheduling link that will be released to the general public on its website, www.monroecounty.gov, each week. The link will be posted on the County’s website at noon on Monday, March 1, 2021. Every clinic is expecting to vaccinate anywhere from 300 to 400 people.
“It is incredibly important for the entire community to come together during this time,” said Julie Lenhard, Wegmans director, pharmacy category. “While we focus on vaccinating our own public-facing employees at our pharmacies, we’re excited for the opportunity to increase accessibility to the vaccine for all grocery store workers. Every single one, regardless of who they work for, has worked tirelessly over the last year as they have continued to serve their community.”
Vaccinations will take place at the Wegmans Conference Center, located at 200 Wegmans Market St., Rochester, NY 14624. When arriving at your appointment, please remember:
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Be no more than 10 minutes early
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Wear a face mask
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Be wearing a short sleeve shirt for easy access
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Have both a valid ID (driver’s license, passport, etc.) and proof of employment (ID badge, recent pay stub, etc.)
Though Wegmans is helping to operate these vaccination clinics, appointments will be made equally available to any qualifying customer-facing grocery store worker over the age of 18, not just Wegmans employees. Please remember that Wegmans in-store employees will mostly be vaccinated at Wegmans Pharmacies. These clinics are primarily for the customer-facing grocery store employees that do not have access to a pharmacy in their store.
“This collaboration will help ensure the vaccine reaches individuals in all corners of our community, and especially those working in neighborhoods with lower vaccination rates. Our grocery stores, bodegas, corner stores and mini-marts are essential to our daily lives and we are grateful for this opportunity to protect the health and safety of their employees and customers,” added Monroe County Public Health Commission Dr. Michael Mendoza.
To ensure equity in access, Monroe County is reserving approximately 30% of the appointments for smaller, city-based employers, and is partnering with the City of Rochester Neighborhood Service Centers to work with these employers to book reservations for their employees.
Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce President and CEO and captain of the Finger Lakes Regional COVID-19 Control Room Bob Duffy said, “Vaccines are one of our strongest weapons in the fight against COVID-19, and we must ensure the safety of our essential grocery store workers as quickly as possible. Wegmans has once again proved their commitment to our community by allocating considerable time and resources to make this vaccination clinic available to all businesses, even competitors, in their industry. This is just one more example of outstanding corporate citizenship on their part. Greater Rochester Chamber is grateful for the leadership of County Executive Bello, Health Commissioner Mendoza, and their incredible teams who made this possible. We pledge our support to make vaccination opportunities available to all eligible employees in our region.”
Previously, Wegmans and the Monroe County Department of Public Health have partnered to administer the flu vaccine through a number of clinics. These clinics not only protected our community from the flu, they also helped organizers determine a model to use moving forward on how to administer vaccines to the masses during a pandemic. Monroe County is more than confident that the experience Wegmans has in large-scale vaccination will shine though during these clinics.
