NORTH AUGUSTA, SC (WRDW / WAGT) – As Phase 1 of the COVID-19 vaccination expands, we wanted to see how easy or difficult it is to make an appointment.
First, we went to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control website and found a map of available vaccine locations.
There is only one location available in Aiken County, but that was not the only problem we encountered.
The map shows seven locations in Aiken and Edgefield counties, with only the Aiken Regional Medical Center scheduling COVID-19 vaccine appointments. We contacted all seven healthcare providers and got very different responses.
The Family Pharmacy in Aiken says it is not part of the vaccine until Phase 2, so they will open appointments then.
Edgefield Hospital and the Aiken County Health Department say they are accepting appointments, although the map indicates they are not.
Edgefield says they will give about 1,500 vaccines a week. They will make appointments every Thursday, on a first-come, first-served basis. To schedule an appointment through DHEC, you can call the hotline, so we try.
But we are faced with several problems – mainly nobody who caught it.
We tried to call DHEC directly in Columbia. We learned that the care line was not available.
DHEC says it received more than 5,000 calls on Wednesday morning, overloading its phone lines and making it almost impossible to schedule an appointment.
As the state continues to implement the vaccine phases, the volume of calls only tends to increase.
DHEC says the state receives about 60,000 doses of the vaccine per week, but they have more than 10 times that number of people eligible for the vaccine.
If you would like to schedule an appointment through Edgefield Hospital, visit the website.
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