Benson, NC – A drive-thru COVID-19 vaccine clinic at West Johnston High School reached capacity just 10 minutes after opening on Wednesday.
Cars queued in front of the clinic before 6am and the lines got longer all morning. At 10:10 am, the staff had to reject cars.
The clinic, which has held previous events, has been praised by members of the community in recent weeks for the efficiency with which it gets people vaccinated quickly. As a result, health officials from Wake, Harnett and Wilson counties have been studying the procedure.
The drive-thru clinic opens at 10:00 AM on a first-come, first-served basis. No appointments were needed, only people seeking the first doses of the vaccine were allowed to attend.
Another COVID-19 vaccine clinic opens Wednesday at 9am in Fayetteville at the Crown Expo Center. There, vaccines will be available for people who need the first and second doses of the vaccine.
Appointments for the clinic must be online before 1 p.m. After 1:00 PM, vaccines are administered on a first-come, first-served basis.
In the triangle, vaccine administration is underway, but a slower process. Wake County received 3,900 doses of Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday and will receive the same amount for each of the next two weeks, but the number is less than half of what the county has requested.
Monday morning, more than 80,000 people were still on the Wake County vaccination waiting list.
Officials in Wake and Durham counties are finalizing plans for similar high-capacity vaccination events at Research Triangle Park and possibly the PNC Arena in Raleigh. State officials would have to approve the plan and assign doses to make it happen.
The state divides about 90,000 doses per week among health departments and hospitals, each of which gives a base amount. The remaining 55,000 doses per week will be sent to communities with a high number of people over 65 who are on low income or who live in rural or marginalized communities, officials said.
Some doses will also be sent to high-capacity vaccination clinics, such as a clinic held Saturday and Sunday at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, where more than 20,000 people received an injection – about 800 an hour.