SPOKANE, Wash – Spokane Regional Health and CHAS hoped to vaccinate 500 people Wednesday, but their total number of shots given ended up being double that with more than 1,100 people receiving their shot.
Opening day experienced a crashed portal for booking appointments and an overwhelming amount of traffic at the vaccination site.
Thursday was quite the opposite. The people we talked to were surprised it was so easy and stress free today.
A lot of them said they feel extremely lucky to have made appointments for today in the first place.
“I should of bought a lotto ticket because I was on of the ones chosen and I’m real happy about it,” Pat McHugh said.
Compared to Wednesday’s scramble at the mass vaccination site, day two was a different scene.
Jennifer Dborak said yesterday her and her husband both had several devices up, trying to book an appointment, so getting in on the site’s second day was a huge win for her family.
“I was very nervous, I have underlying health conditions and I am a registered dental assistant and I just had leg surgery, and my husband just got over cancer so we were really eager to get our vaccinations so we both can be healthy- this is very important, it’s life changing,” Dborak added.
“For anyone that’s worried about how its going to be handled I would say it’s not a pleasant experience to get a shot in the arm but I wouldn’t have to worry about traffic, how you are handled, and how it’s being done. It’s very professional,” vaccine recipient, Pat Mann said.
Spokane Regional Health will be setting up a phone line to help with any general questions regarding the site, but you won’t be able to book an appointment this way.
“They are now saying Monday or Tuesday before they could provide that level of service- if people do get through on that line they are going to be able to provide them with general information about the mass site here in Spokane not do any sort of registration,” Chas Chief Administration Officer, Kelly Charvet said.
For people who come to receive their first shot, you can schedule your second one inside the arena after your vaccination.
Chas and SRHD anticipate the portal to re-open Monday to schedule more appointments.
