Federally funded mass vaccination site coming to Bon Carre business center

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – Friday, the White House announced the Bon Carre business center will become a mass vaccination site.

“It just makes sense logistically, you know we are right here on Florida Blvd, most people all throughout the parish can get here” said District 6 East Baton Rouge Metro Councilman, Cleve Dunn.

The plan is to bring shots directly to underserved communities.

“This is undoubtedly going to be a game changer in our fight against Covid 19” said East Baton Rouge Mayor-President, Sharon Weston Broome.

According to the White House, the site will be able to provide 3,000 shots per day for up to 8 weeks.

“Our Mass Vaccination sites located in some of the most underserved neighborhoods in the nation are run and staffed by FEMA and DOD staff in close partnership with state and local officials and these sites have a combined capacity to administer 110,000 shots per day” said White House Covid Response Team Coordinator, Jeff Zients

Local officials say, this initiative could help close the health disparity gap for vaccination access.

“The health disparities gap, certainty a dominant part of our conversation and it has been as it has rolled out vaccines and so we have really made a very intentional effort to close the gap of receiving vaccines now with this mass vaccination site” said Broome.

For the Capital City, this could bring us closer toward a sense of normalcy.

“It’s going to be huge, they’re talking about making a huge impact here with this. Many folks have been trying to gain access to it, it’s going to be a great resource to have in District 6” said Dunn.

Register for vaccination: Click Here

The Capital Area Transit System (CATS), in partnership with the City of Baton Rouge, will provide free transportation for residents to the community vaccination center located at Bon Carre, opening Friday, April 16.

The Bon Carre site is accessible from these CATS routes:

21 Fairfields Avenue from the Cortana Transit Center
22 Winbourne Avenue from the Cortana Transit Center
44 Florida from the CATS Terminal