After being closed for more than a month, due to a shortage of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Church of God of Prophecy on East Street reopened yesterday with strong demand for the jab.
While many of those who showed up had appointments, some, like Wendal Adderley, a father of five, did not.
“I’m a walk-in,” Adderley, who arrived at the site around 8:30 a.m., told The Nassau Guardian around 12:05 p.m.
“I had to wait for about three hours just to get a number. I’m still waiting to get the shot.”
When asked if he was hopeful that he would get the vaccine, Adderley replied, “They said that everybody who has a number will get a shot.”
He took out a small slip of white paper and waved it.
“I have a number, so I’m just waiting,” Adderley said.
He said he is taking the vaccine “so I can be straight and I can protect me and my family because I’m a family man”.
Barbara Naissance, a caregiver, also had a bit of a wait to get the vaccine yesterday.
She and her friend, who only wanted to be identified as Rolle, said they arrived at the site at 9 a.m.
Nearly three hours later, they were still waiting to be administered the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Now, we’re getting hungry, so we’re going to look for something to eat,” Naissance said.
“They don’t even give you water.”
She said she did not expect the site to be as busy as it was.
“The first time we came here, hardly anybody was here,” Naissance said.
“I figured the same thing would happen now. It’s chaotic. It’s too, too chaotic.”
Just before noon, a crowd control volunteer came outside and said loudly, “If you don’t have an appointment or a ticket number, there’s no point in staying.”
One man, who had arrived shortly before the announcement, walked away in apparent frustration.
Brent Symonette, another crowd control volunteer at the site, said roughly 600 doses were administered yesterday.
“It’s going very well,” Symonette said.
“We’re registering about 200 walk-ins. We’re getting down to the last 40 or 50 walk-ins. The shots are slow because of the number of nurses and the size of the property, but we’re doing very well. Everything is calm.”
Symonette said people with appointments were given priority.
He said there has been a recent increase in people who want the vaccine.
The reported increase in demand for the vaccine comes as The Bahamas experiences a surge in COVID-19 cases.
More than 2,100 cases were reported last month. Eight hundred and seventy-four cases have already been reported this month.
The high number of cases caused Sheryl Thompson, a mother of four, to get her first dose yesterday.
“I came here about 10:40,” she said shortly before noon.
“I’ve been served. It was completed within 20 minutes. The process was smooth and very nice. I had an appointment. I came because of what is going on with the coronavirus. I’m trying to be safe, so that’s why I came to get my first jab. The recent spike is concerning me.”
Thompson said she had waited to get the vaccine because she wanted to see how others were affected by it.
“I had a lot of feedback from all of my friends who got it,” she said.
“They told me about their experience…and I felt that it was about time that I come and get it.”
Philiecia McDonald, who also had an appointment for her first dose, expressed similar sentiments.
When asked why she decided to get the vaccine, she said, “I think I see the seriousness in it (COVID-19) and just decided to take action and be more cautious. I’m always around my kids and elderly persons, and so that’s the reason why.”
McDonald said “the speculation and the talks on social media” about the vaccine had her hesitant about taking it initially.
As of August 7, 62,863 people had been administered a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in The Bahamas; 47,580 second doses were administered, officials said.
The post Officials report strong demand as vaccine center reopens appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/officials-report-strong-demand-as-vaccine-center-reopens/
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