LYNN — The city is offering COVID-19 booster shots in the City Hall foyer this week and next during its COVID-19 vaccination hours.
Vaccine clinics will be hosted in the foyer this Friday and next Friday, Dec. 10, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and Monday Dec. 6 and Dec. 13 from 4 to 7 p.m.
These clinics will offer all three vaccine options; the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer and the single-dose Johnson & Johnson.
The city hosted three other vaccine clinics at City Hall over the past two weeks, which Mayor Thomas M. McGee said received a good response.
Following the holiday weekend, new cases in the city have doubled, from 53 new cases on Wednesday to 111 new cases on Thursday.
“The most important part about moving through this is making sure people get vaccinated,” McGee said. “I couldn’t more strongly urge people to get out and get vaccinated.”
As of last week, 66 percent of residents were fully vaccinated, while 73 percent had received at least their first dose.
With the Delta variant and now the new Omicron variant, which was first detected in California this week, McGee said getting the booster is a key piece of continued efforts to lower the impacts of COVID-19.
“We are making booster shots available as an ongoing effort to keep our community safe,” McGee said.
Medical leaders have said the vaccine and booster shots help to lessen the severity of symptoms and decrease the chances of death when contracting COVID-19, which McGee said is a big reason why he encourages everyone to get vaccinated.
Kiame Mahaniah, chief executive officer at the Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC), is also encouraging people to get vaccinated and get the booster shot.
“There is a natural waning of immunity that is expected over time, especially with a virus that mutates so quickly,” Mahaniah said. “A booster essentially provides your immune system with the information it needs to fight the next COVID exposure.”
In addition to the vaccine clinics at City Hall, Mass General Brigham and LCHC are offering vaccines, but LCHC is only offering them for its patients.
“We have a really great vaccine effort going here in the community,” McGee said. “At one point, we were vaccinating more than 6,000 people a week at Lynn Tech, and we want to continue vaccinating people.”
In an effort to make the vaccine easily accessible to kids and parents, the city is also hosting vaccine clinics at schools.
A vaccine clinic is scheduled at Ingalls Elementary School on Dec. 15 from 2 to 4 p.m., eligible to anyone ages 5 and older.
“People need to get vaccinated because that’s what’s going to help us continue to take on this virus,” McGee said. “Get vaccinated, get your boosters, wear your masks indoors, and follow the CDC recommendations so we can move forward in this.”
Appointments for city hall vaccines can be made online at http://www.lynnma.gov/covid19/vaccine.shtml or by calling 781-598-4000.
