Massachustts will open its first mass COVID-19 vaccination site at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough this week, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday.
Baker said public health staff at the 1.9 million-square-foot stadium will vaccinate the site's own medical staff this Thursday in anticipation of appointments by first responders starting next Monday.
"Gillette plans to start out doing 300 vaccines per day but is going to build up to administering 5,000 vaccines per day and potentially much bigger numbers than that over time," Baker said of the plan for the site to become a hub of the vaccination effort in southeastern Massachusetts.
Baker was asked about security threats and possible demonstrations in the leadup to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration Jan. 20 and said there have been no specific threats made that involve anything in Massachusetts.
"At this point in time, we do not have in front of us anything that would justify activating the [National] Guard," Baker said while appearing with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito at the Worcester Senior Center for a tour, pandemic update and media availability.
Baker said he and public safety officials will continue to monitor "information that's out there" regarding potential violence and that the state "will be appropriately prepared for anything that might happen."
Asked about identifying demonstrators from Massachusetts that took part in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol last week, Baker said he's thankful the state did not ban police use of facial recognition software when restrictions on the technology were adopted as part of the police accountability law passed last year.
"One of the reasons I was so aggressive about maintaining access to that facial recognition technology was because I believed that was an important tool for dealing with issues like the one that took place in Washington last week," Baker said.
