Vaccination megasites pop up in empty malls By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business Now that Covid-19 vaccination efforts are ramping up, local health officials are on the hunt for locations that can quickly be converted into vaccination clinics, and malls across the country, battered by declines in in-person shopping, are starting to play a role. Mall operators are sitting on plenty of abandoned retail space that might be ideal for the purpose — and some landlords hope that opening vaccination sites might bring in badly needed foot traffic. When Dr. Herbert Conaway, the director of Burlington County Health Department in New Jersey, was looking for a location for one of the state's six vaccination "megasites," he realized a local, shuttered Lord & Taylor might fit the bill.