Once bustling with shoppers, the old JCPenney in the Poughkeepsie Galleria Mall has been used as a vaccination site by Dutchess County since January.

About 1,000 seniors and essential workers are vaccinated here each week. But the county says this site can do much more.

"This facility is 185,000 square feet," County Executive Marc Molinaro said. "We could do 5,000 doses here without much difficulty, and with the president and the governor all talking about trying to get vaccines into the arms and really increase distribution, the most effective way to do that is to put doses into the hands of local health departments."

The county says they have the space and the personnel - 2,000 volunteers from the Medical Reserve Corps - they’re just not getting the doses they need.

Molinaro wrote a letter to Governor Cuomo last month, requesting that the state partner with the county to create a joint vaccination site here.

Although there's a mass vaccination site in Westchester County Center and one at SUNY Albany, Molinaro said those sites are too far for Dutchess County residents to get to.

"We picked this location because of ease of access for anyone with a car, and also because it rests on the county’s public transit system. That allows us to move people from anywhere in Dutchess County right here," said Molinaro.

Harriet Mark, a Dutchess County resident, received her first shot at the site.

"It was fantastic," said Mark. "I felt a little prick but that was it."

She says the whole process was easy and only took about a half-hour.

"It was a lot easier. I had a chance to go all the way to Beacon, and it was too far. I live on the other side of the parkway," said Mark.

The county says if it gets more doses from the state, it'll be able to get more shots into arms of people like Harriet in the weeks and months ahead.