SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — After a slow start that left hundreds of vaccination appointments un-booked, a new vaccination clinic in Sacramento County is finally filling its open appointments.
A drive-thru site at 3144 Palm Street in McClellan Park opened last week just for Sacramento County residents ages 65 and older. It's run by the county's partner, Curative, which is administering Pfizer's vaccine. There are no walk-ups allowed. All appointments must be made online first. It is free to qualified residents, regardless of immigration status or insurance coverage.
A county public health official told ABC10 it's been difficult to get the word out to the older age groups. Researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California say while the internet and social media are great communication tools for vaccine access, they don't tend to reach older Californians.
"That was really easy, everything’s so easy!" Pam Triglia, a woman taking her husband to get vaccinated, said. "You just come down, it’s so simple and quick.”
Triglia has looked everywhere to get her 69-year-old husband a coronavirus vaccine appointment, from pharmacies to the county and even the doctor's office.
“It was a hassle to do, it was just hard to get any appointment, so in the CVS, I tried that, tried a lot of things for like two weeks, we were online for like an hour at a time, it was crazy," she said.
Up until Tuesday morning, when McClellan Park had more than a thousand appointment openings, which have slowly started to fill up for the week.
"So I found out today that McClellan was having it down the street here and I just called and got an appointment right away, it was great!" she said. It should be like that everywhere!”
Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasiyre says they’re offering 600 appointments a day at this location for now, but plan to ramp up efforts to double those appointments once the supply becomes available.
They’re focusing on just the 65 and up crowd living in Sacramento County for now, before opening it up to teachers, healthcare workers, then food and agriculture workers.
“Because that is a large group in Sacramento County, it’s about 200,000 total so we expected that would take a while to get through them," Dr. Kasirye said.
Dr. Kasirye says the number of vaccine doses that are prepared, or taken out of the freezer, is dependent on the number of appointments booked.
“Then at the end of the day or close to the end of the day, if we have some appointments where people were not able to show up, then we also have a waitlist so we will be able to call people in to take advantage of those remaining doses," she said.
But for now, though, she says that the waitlist for leftover doses is just for Sacramento County employees.
Realizing there is still quite a digital divide with those that are 65 and up, the county says they are still working on other ways to book appointments, whether it's calling or just emailing your information.
Those plans are still in the works but for right now, the county says the only way to book your appointment at this clinic is online by clicking here.
WATCH NEXT: When will schools reopen in Sacramento?
