KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Johnson County Department of Health and Environment will make adjustments to its COVID-19 vaccination site after residents waited long lines on Tuesday and were not socially removed.
Carol Caviar, a resident of Johnson County, said she was relieved to receive the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, but the cold expectation was not pleasant.
“It froze here, someone said it was like the Disneyland line and I was like yes, but much colder,” Caviar said.
JCDHE Director Dr. Sanmi Areola apologized “for the discomfort 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 during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Areola said that from tomorrow there will be better parking and traffic control, along with additional staff. At least 20 vaccinators will be on site on Wednesday, along with several employees to help “flow” inside the building and while waiting outside, he said.
“This is a marathon,” Areola said. “We’re trying to do this in stages, so you don’t have to wait too long.”
Mary Beverly, deputy director for Johnson County Health and Environment, said the department is working hard to make sure long lines are not a problem for future clinics. She said part of the problem could have been patients who showed up an hour earlier for their appointments.
“We really don’t want people to do this, because then this can cause a blockage, if people can come ten, fifteen minutes before the appointment time, I think it’s very helpful,” Beverly said.
JCDHE announced last week that it will move to phase 2 this week and anticipated that it would take some time to get through the phase.
Dan Danz said Tuesday’s line moved quickly once it entered.
“Once you meandered through the line, it wasn’t a big deal,” Danz said.
Danz said he was finally glad he finally got his first shot.
“I’ve been in quarantine with my wife since early March, so I’ll be glad to be able to go out and move around a little bit,” Danz said.
On Monday, the JCDHE said all 7,584 vaccination slots it had for the week were already reserved.