Photo Credit: Northwell Health

Governor McKee tweeted this morning about Rhode Island opening up more than 9,000 new appointments on  vaccinateRI.org  at 5 pm today for state-run sites.

As a reminder, the vaccine is currently available statewide for people who are 60 to 64, people who are 16 to 64 with certain underlying health conditions, and people who were previously eligible in Phase 1.

Independent Pharmacies

Joseph Wendelken, Public Information Officer for the Rhode Island Department of Health, also relayed to the press this afternoon that appointments at two independent pharmacies, Matt’s Local Pharmacy and Suburban Pharmacy in Warwick, will also be available at vaccinateRI.org at 5 pm.

Wendelken writes that a total of 400 first dose appointments will be available at these two sites (Matt’s Local Pharmacy and Suburban Pharmacy). The Moderna vaccine and Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be available.

People should go to  vaccinateRI.org to make appointments for these two independent sites. 

People should not contact these two pharmacies directly. While appointments at the larger pharmacy chains (such as CVS and Walgreens) are made through those companies’ websites, appointments at independent pharmacies will be available through vaccinateRI.org. We expect additional independent pharmacies to start vaccinating in the very near future,” Wendelken writes.

Veterans

All veterans are invited to attend a vaccination clinic in Swansea or Kingston this weekend.

More from the Rhode Island Department of Health here – Department of Health provides an update on the state’s COVID-19 vaccine efforts

Ryan Belmore is the owner and publisher of What's Up Newp. He took over the publication in 2012 and has grown it into a three-time Rhode Island Monthly Best Local News Blog (2018, 2019, 2020). He was named LION Publishers Member of the Year in 2020 and received the Dominique Award from the Arts & Cultural Society of Newport County the same year. He has been awarded grants for investigative and community journalism, and continues to coach and mentor new local news publications nationwide. Ryan...