Despite long waits at the Western Fair Agriplex COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic, many in line were excited to get a COVID-19 vaccine Saturday.
The Middlesex London Health Unit reported a total of 1,262 people are scheduled to get vaccinated Saturday at the Agriplex, of which 800 are 80 years of age and older. The total is an increase from the 1,100 who were vaccinated Friday. The intake is expected to stay steady at around 1,200 per day at the Agriplex over the next few days.
Patrica and her husband Bryan Burwash, who are about to turn 85, were excited to get the first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“It’s absolutely wonderful,” Patrica said.
“I think it’s great, the sooner the better, and it’s turning out very well,” Bryan said.
Patrica said they are both looking forward to getting out of the house, saying ‘we have been behaving ourselves’ by staying inside their independent living retirement complex.
“Just getting out of the apartment and doing some things we have not done for months.”
Like others Global News spoke to Saturday, the two had help from their children to book an appointment. Their daughter was online at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning to book their appointment.
“Our daughter did it online for us, which is a big help because we don’t have smartphones, and it’s hard to do otherwise,” Patrica said.
The COVID-19 vaccination booking system has been met with an overwhelming amount of people trying to book appointments.
People at the clinic and online have said they had to wait around 30 to 45 minutes outside after being told to line up to get their vaccine, with temperatures of -1 degrees and winds moving 23 km/h.
An MLHU representative told Global News wait times have been longer due to some people taking longer to register and a number of people not using the waiting room app to tell them when to come in, or people lining up a long time before their scheduled appointment.
Ninety-four-year-old Margaret Gray spoke to Global News right after getting vaccinated and said she is looking forward to not having to worry anymore.
Gray said she has been housebound, and this was her first time going anywhere for an entire year.
She said booking an appointment was not hard because her daughter-in-law took care of booking it online.
On Wednesday, when appointments for seniors 80 and older were opened to the public, the health unit reported more than 5,000 appointments for seniors were booked for between March 6 and 16 within two hours of online and telephone booking being made available.
The online system saw nearly 30,000 hits and had “no significant outages,” but the phone system saw over 200,000 phone calls and experienced outage issues.
Ellen Trafagander, who is in her 80s, said her children made sure to book the appointment for her.
“It’s great, I have been outside my house but not in public for about a year,” Trafagander said.
Trafagander said getting the vaccine means she won’t have to worry about COVID-19, but that does not mean she is hugging anyone anytime soon.
“Everybody get out there and get your vaccination,” Trafagander said.
Appointments can be booked via www.covidvaccinelm.ca or by calling 226-289-3560.
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