The large open layout of Poughkeepsie's old JC Penney is being utilized by Dutchess County to administer vaccines.

The former department store occupies space in the town’s Galleria Mall. 

Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro says he hopes to get more than the 600 doses the state allowed this week. “This is the kind of location that will get shots into the arms of people who want them," he says.

The county executive also tells News 12 he hopes to have more large vaccine centers like JC Penney throughout the county.

“For myself, every time I read about one more Dutchess County resident, I feel a little bit of my own loss over and over again,” says Molinaro, who lost his father to COVID-19 last spring.

So far, January is the county’s deadliest COVID-19 month with 72 lives lost. The new total is 322.

“It’s pain we don’t want people to have to suffer,” says Molinaro.

Pawling resident Dave Orifici was one of many eligible county residents receiving a shot on Thursday.

“So far, it was nothing. I didn’t even feel it,” says Orifici. “The more people who get it, it’s just going to get us back to normal.”