Marking one year since the first reported coronavirus case in Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam on Tuesday announced a plan to stand up more than a dozen mass vaccination sites across the commonwealth. He also urged Virginians to stay vigilant and continue registering for the vaccine.

These high-capacity vaccination sites are meant to distribute the vaccine more equitably across the population. State emergency management director Curtis Brown said the state is identifying locations based on the results of an equity analysis that looked at accessibility and proximity to populations vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19.

The first three mass vaccination sites will be in Portsmouth, Danville and Petersburg. Brown said a total of thirteen sites will be activated over the next three months using both private contractors and state-funded resources like the Virginia National Guard and Medical Reserve Corps to administer the vaccines.

People hoping to access the sites will still be required to use Virginia’s online registration portal until the state receives enough vaccine doses to support drive-up service for all residents. During the press conference, Northam urged Virginians to register for an appointment and to answer their phones just in case it’s the health department calling to help them set up an appointment for their second shot. Citing reports from call center employees, Northam said many residents aren’t answering calls.

“I know that everybody, including myself, is tired of spam calls, and most of the time, it’s not smart to answer if you don’t know who’s calling. But right now, until we get everybody vaccinated. Please answer your phone,” Northam said.

Virginia stands sixth in the nation in the percentage of vaccine doses used; 18% of the population has received at least one dose so far. Northam said the original goal was to reach 25,000 shots per day, which Virginia has surpassed. “We are now averaging almost 51,000 doses administered each day in the commonwealth,” Northam said.

The state recently revamped its vaccine scheduling system, but so far it’s been plagued with issues, making it difficult for many people to get appointments. Virginia’s vaccination coordinator Dr. Danny Avula addressed some of the problems, including a glitch that made a link intended for a single person to register for an appointment available to anyone with access to the link. Avula said that the issue still has not been resolved, but that state officials are working to fix it.

“The Office of Information Management has built a solution that we’re testing this week. Hopefully, it will really resolve some of these issues,” Avula said.

Last week the state’s limit on outdoor gatherings increased from 10 to 25 people. Restaurants and bars are now able to serve alcohol until midnight, and the capacity limit for outdoor entertainment venues increased to 30%. But even with these changes, Northam asked Virginians to continue to be vigilant until the population has reached herd immunity.

“The virus needs hosts to survive and mutate, this is why it’s so important to continue the guidelines and to get as many people as we can vaccinated,” he said. “Once we get to that herd immunity, the virus will not be able to survive and this will be behind us.”