Vaccine line taken earlier today on Amnicola Highway at the bridge at Hwy 153
photo by M.A. Locke
So many people lined up in their vehicles for the COVID-19 vaccine in Chattanooga that the Health Department put out a plea for some to leave and come back another day.
The line stretched from the Riverpark entrance near Chattanooga State to beyond Highway 153.
Health officials said late Wednesday morning, "The Health Department asks those who are currently in the COVID-19 vaccination line and are beyond the intersection of 153 and Amnicola to please leave the line now and return at another time.
"Check back later today. Many more opportunities will open up soon."
One person who was in line backed up on Highway 153 said, "I called them and they finally admitted they only had 900 doses. It is raging incompetence on the part of the Health Department to open up these categories and then draw thousands of cars with only 900 doses.
"The line stretched way along 153 - blocking side streets. People who were trying to get out to go to work couldn't move.
"There were people standing out of their cars talking on cellphones. Man, were they mad.
"People - mainly the elderly - sat in their cars for hours. Then they put out the word that everybody go home."
Ed Gravitte, who will soon be 91, said he and his wife, Bonnie, arrived at 8:15 a.m. to find cars backed up on the ramp of Highway 153. It took them over four hours to reach the inside of the Riverpark.
Personnel came up to their car to get information around 12:30 p.m. Asked how much further, they were told, "About a mile."
They were also given gloves and told that was for use in filling out a document on a clipboard later before they finally got to the vaccination point.
Mr. Gravitte said they got their shots five hours and 38 minutes after getting in line. Then they were told to wait for 20 minutes to make sure they did not have a reaction to the vaccine.
He said, "We were among the last people who got the shots. They cut it off soon after us. We had started out with 400 miles showing we could go in our car and ended up at 100 miles left. I was getting worried that we were going to run out of gas."
Links from the Health Department:
https://www.facebook.com/HamiltonTNHealthDept/photos/a.229678710397886/3980529221979464/
https://twitter.com/HamiltonHealth/status/1344664302662406145