KANSAS CITY, Missouri. – The Johnson County Department of Health and Environment will make adjustments to its COVID-19 vaccination site after residents waited in long lines Tuesday and were not socially aloof.
Carol Caviar, a resident of Johnson County, said she was relieved when she received her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, but the wait outside in the cold was not pleasant.
“It’s freezing in here, someone said it’s like the Disneyland line and I was like yes, but a lot colder,” Caviar said.
JCDHE Director Dr. Sanmi Areola, apologized “for the inconvenience and inconvenience” experienced at Okun Fieldhouse in Shawnee.
“Our goal, our intention was to vaccinate as many of our residents as possible today and for the rest of the week,” Areola said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Areola said there will be better parking and traffic control from tomorrow, along with additional staff. At least 20 vaccinators will be on site Wednesday, along with more staff to help with the “power” inside the building and while they wait outside, he said.
“This is a marathon,” Areola said. “We try to do this in stages, so you don’t have to wait too long.”
Mary Beverly, deputy director of Johnson County Health and Environment, said the department is working hard to make sure long lines aren’t a problem for future clinics. She said part of the problem could have been patients showing up an hour early for their appointments.
“We really don’t want people to do that, because then it can create a bottleneck. If people can come ten, fifteen minutes before their appointment, I think that’s very helpful,” said Beverly.
The JCDHE announced last week that it would move to Phase 2 this week and expected it to take a while to get through the phase.
Dan Danz said Tuesday’s line came in quickly.
“Once you squirmed through the line, it wasn’t a problem,” Danz said.
Danz said in the end he is just happy that he finally got his first shot.
“I’ve been in self-quarantine with my wife since the first half of March, so I’ll be happy to get out and move a little,” Danz said.
Monday, JCDHE said all of its 7,584 vaccination slots it had for the week had already been booked.