SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Hope is on the way for those wanting to get the coronavirus vaccine.
CVS opened up their online appointment system on Thursday and will start giving out the shots for the first time on Friday at more than 100 locations across the state. For now, per state guidelines, they are focusing on the 65 and up crowd and healthcare workers.
Although appointments are already fully booked in Sacramento and many of its surrounding cities, CVS officials say they plan to add new appointments every single day.
"I had gotten to the point of feeling very discouraged," Marilyn Tubbs, a woman hoping to get vaccinated in Nevada City said. 73-year-old Marilyn Tubbs has looked everywhere to get a coronavirus vaccine for her and her husband.
"In our area in Nevada County, almost all of the doctor offices are not getting the vaccine, so we're left to just figure it out on our own," Tubbs said.
Finally, she was able to get an appointment. The only catch? It was two and a half hours away from her Nevada City home in Modesto for later next week.
But she heard on ABC10's Morning Blend that CVS was opening up appointments on Thursday and immediately ran to both her computer and her phone and within minutes, they both had appointments booked on Friday.
"I don't even know if I'd had any coffee yet, I just said, I've got to do this!" she said.
CVS officials told ABC10, as a company, their goal is to be giving out 20 million shots across the country per month once they are fully operational.
For now, though, they're targeting about 82,000 shots per week, specifically in California.
"Appointments are created based on vaccine supply," Ryan Vaughan, a district leader for CVS said. "We want to make sure that when a customer makes an appointment, we definitely have a vaccine for them."
on the first day, however, appointments quickly became fully booked across the Sacramento region. CVS says they plan to add more every day.
"New appointments will be added to CVS.com, we get communication from the CDC about shipping more doses, so as we have more shots available, we will add more appointments," Vaughn said.
Still, lawmakers like Senator Jim Nielsen out of Roseville say, the amount of vaccines they're getting, just isn't enough right now.
"But the supply that is available to those institutions, those pharmacies, is entirely inadequate," Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Roseville) said.
And he believes, California as a state, can do much better.
"This is life or death and that's why California better get it right," he said.
To book an appointment, registration can be done online here or on the app. If you are not tech-savvy or don't own a computer, you can call 1-800-SHOP-CVS to book an appointment over the phone.
If your area says fully booked, check back tomorrow as they say new appointments are being added every day.
