MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — What once was a Sears at the Morgantown Mall will become the epicenter for COVID-19 vaccination in North Central West Virginia.

WVU Medicine will use the large space as a vaccination megahub to help vaccinate as many people as possible.

There are 30 stations in the hub that will vaccinate patients.

The hub will open its doors on Thursday and administer approximately 500 doses for each of the next few days. As it begins to ramp up production and more vaccine becomes available, it can serve up to 4,000 people a day. WVU Medicine CEO Albert Wright said that the 1,000 appointment slots between Thursday and Friday filled in 90 minutes. There are a few thousand people who have been put on a notification list for when more timeslots become available.

West Virginia has received national attention for having one of the highest vaccination rates of any state in the country. Wright said concurred with Governor Justice’s plea that since West Virginia is doing so well distributing the vaccines it has received, the federal government should send more doses to the Mountain State.

“If West Virginia is winning and getting vaccinations in arms, give us more. And this is the infrastructure that’s in place so that, all of a sudden, get all of those vaccines and say, ‘Jeez, what are we gonna do now?’ When we get the vaccines, we know what the plan is,” Wright said.

WVU Medicine is prepared to handle any amount of dosage the federal government provides.

Wright explained that there are plans in place to open three more hubs across the state. To find out more information about open appointment slots, click here.