As vaccine floodgates open, new hopes arise
Believe it or not, it was Comic-con that prepared her for this day.
Danielle Vaughan, 31, of Nashville, set an alarm to wake extra early. She crawled out of bed and steered three screens — one PC, one Mac and one cell phone – to a slew of sign-up websites. Using the tactics she honed in past years scoring hard-to-get event tickets, Vaughan began her hunt. She searched, refreshed and searched again.
Eventually, she snagged admission to what will surely be the most soughtafter event of 2021 — a coronavirus vaccination.
“I was prepared,” Vaughan said, her voice elevated in giddy disbelief. “I did it just like with Comic-con, just like with Taylor Swift tickets. And it felt weird because it was all for a vaccine, but I was ready.”
Vaughan was one of countless Tennesseans who turned to their computers and telephones Monday in a mad dash to schedule coronavirus vaccinations as the state dramatically widened vaccine availability. In a series of interviews on Monday, she and others compared the process to the kind of blitz on high-demand concert or event tickets that were common before the pandemic. Most said they had waited weeks if not months to register, and suddenly their success was surreal.
“Joy feels weird at this point,” Vaughan said. “I still have the confirmation email up on my screen, and I keep staring at it, just to make sure it has a real time and a date. I want to be hopeful, but I probably won’t be until
tomorrow … when I have my first dose.”
Across a majority of Tennessee, vaccination eligibility progressed to distribution phase “1C” on Monday, so appointments are now available to anyone age 16 and up with one of about 20 serious medical conditions. Conditions like obesity and hypertension are common, and since the state is not requiring residents to show proof of their diagnosis, vaccination is functionally open to just about anyone who wants it badly enough.
When the doors flew open on Monday morning, many were waiting to pounce. In Nashville, the city's main signup website stopped working within minutes of the eligibility transition, but city officials quickly circulated a backup site that processed appointments until the main website started working again.
Outside of Nashville, where most vaccinations are handled by Tennessee Department of Health, some residents reported the state's signup website wasn't accepting new registrations, but the issue could be circumvented by using a new or different email address to sign up. Kroger, which is offering vaccine appointments through a separate website, expanded availability to 1C populations as of 1 p.m. Walmart, which also has its own sign-up site, is likely to follow but has not done so as of 3 p.m.
'I can't put this feeling into words'
Jamie Dyer, 38, who snagged an appointment for Tuesday, said she was most excited that vaccination would allow her to once again visit with her family in Cookeville.
Dyer said her father is elderly and her stepmother is immunocompromised, so she has kept her distance since May.
Now, a long-overdue hug is on the horizon, she said.
“I can't put this feeling into words,” Dyer said. “I didn't think I would be this emotional, but even just thinking about it makes me want to cry. I'm a daddy's girl – always have been – and just talking to them on the phone has not been the same.”
Corey Van Woert, 33, originally did not expect to be vaccinated until the summer but was able to register on Monday because his wife is pregnant and Tennessee expanded 1C eligibility to include household contacts of pregnant people.
The eligibility of household contacts is not well known and not always made clear on signup websites, but has been repeatedly confirmed by the health department.
Van Woert and his wife are now on pace to be fully vaccinated before their child is born.
“It feels like there has been a certain percentage of my brain that has been reserved for worrying about these things, and it has just been released,” he said Monday. “And it feels really, really good.”
If a mere appointment is that much of a relief, then an actual vaccination will feel like a godsend.
Bridgett Caldwell, 28, a Nashville nanny who became eligible for vaccination in February, said she received her first dose about 10 days ago after driving to Jackson County, 80 miles east of the city, where doses are generally more available.
When the syringe went in her arm, Caldwell thought about how far the Tennessee has come. One year before, the state was sliding into crisis and the months ahead were bleaker than most knew. Now, as vaccine supply grows week after week, the future finally offers “something to hope for,” she said.
“I was just so grateful that this has happened so quickly in the grand scheme of things,” Caldwell said. “It felt like a long time, but developing a lifesaving vaccine in less than a year is insane. And I felt this level of stress lifted as soon as they gave it to me.”
Brett Kelman is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 615-259-8287 or at brett.kelman@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @brettkelman.