Mayo Clinic is preparing to receive its first round of COVID-19 vaccines later this month.

For about two weeks, construction crews have worked to transform empty space in Mayo Clinic Hospital ― Rochester, Saint Marys Campus, into a vaccination site. This space will include 15 vaccination stations, two privacy stations, a recovery area and a supply area.

Steve Rasmusson, the construction manager for the site, explains the work that has gone into transforming the site.

Watch: Steve Rasmusson discusses the work going into Mayo Clinic's first COVID-19 vaccination site.

Journalists: Broadcast-quality soundbites are in the downloads at the end of the post along with b-roll video of a Mayo Clinic infusion center. Please courtesy: "Steve Rasmusson / Construction Manager / Mayo Clinic"

"We're up on the fifth floor of the Generose Building. It's a shell space that was selected as an area to provide immunizations for the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine," explains Rasmusson. "Obviously when it's a shell space, … it hasn't been used. This is a recent build-out, and, so, there were a lot of infrastructure needs: electrical and low-voltage, the wireless access points that were not here."

Beyond the construction needs for the space, Rasmusson says a design team worked with Administration and Nursing Administration to understand their needs.

"As it's being built out, keeping in mind the social distancing required adequate spacing and trying to minimize the cross flow of traffic," says Rasmusson.

Construction took just two weeks to complete, and the new space is ready for hospital staff to begin bringing in materials needed for COVD-19 vaccinations. Rasmusson says it took a team effort to complete the space in such a short time.

"I lend credit to a lot of my colleagues between the design team, the project managers who worked with Administration and Nursing Administration to understand what their needs were, as well as my colleagues ― the contractors themselves ― who were doing all of the hard work and understanding it. So really a hat tip to everyone," says Rasmusson.

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Information in this post was accurate at the time of its posting. Due to the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific understanding, along with guidelines and recommendations, may have changed since the original publication date. 

For everyone's safety, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.

For more information and all your COVID-19 coverage, go to the Mayo Clinic News Network and mayoclinic.org.

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