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 on Tuesday and were not socially distant.
Johnson County resident Carol Caviar said she was relieved to receive her first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, but the wait outside in the cold was not pleasant.
“It’s freezing here, someone said it’s like the Disneyland line and I was like yes, but a lot colder,” said Caviar.
JCDHE director Dr. Sanmi Areola apologized “for the discomfort and inconvenience” that was 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 during a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Areola said that starting tomorrow there will be better parking and traffic control, as well as additional staff. At least 20 vaccinators will be on site on Wednesday, along with more staff to help with the “flow” inside the building and while they wait outside, he said.
“This is a marathon,” said Areola. “We are trying to do this in phases so that you don’t have to wait long.”
Mary Beverly, Johnson County Deputy Health and Environment Director, said the department is working hard to ensure that long lines are not an issue for future clinics. She said that part of the problem could be patients showing up an hour before their appointments.
“We really don’t want people to do this because it can cause a bottleneck, if people can come ten, fifteen minutes before the scheduled time, I think this is very useful,” said Beverly.
The JCDHE announced last week that it would move to Phase 2 this week and predicted it would take a while to get through the phase.
Dan Danz said Tuesday’s queue changed quickly as soon as he entered.
“After you crossed the line, it was no big deal,” said Danz.
Danz said he is happy that he finally got his first chance.
“I have been quarantined with my wife since the first half of March, so I will be happy to be able to go out and move around a bit,” said Danz.
On Monday, the JCDHE said that all of its 7,584 vaccination slots for the week were already booked.