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Vehicles are bumper to bumper in a row that spans boulders on McGehee Road in Montgomery for the start of a week-long COVID-19 vaccination clinic.
The clinic coincides with the current expansion of vaccine-eligible people in Alabama, a new group that includes people aged 65 to 74.
The Montgomery Clinic, on the former Montgomery Mall site, is one of eight clinics in Alabama that will run Monday through Friday.
Baptist Health operates the Montgomery Clinic. This is a first come, first served walk-in clinic and will run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Each of the eight clinics is expected to give up to 5,000 injections this week.
Related: 8 Cities Get Mass COVID Vaccination Sites In Alabama: Where Are They, Who Qualifies For Vaccinations?
Baptist Health lists people eligible for vaccines as:
People aged 65 and over; Health workers; first responders, including EMS, firefighters and law enforcement; and critical front-line workers, which include correctional officers, food and agriculture workers, U.S. postal service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, transportation workers in common, people who work in the education sector (teachers, support staff, community college and higher education), educators, magistrates (including but not limited to) district judges, judges district and district attorneys; and people who work or live in communities.
Ethel McClain of Montgomery, 65, said she waited about two and a half hours to receive her vaccine, which took place shortly after 11 a.m. McClain said it was worth the wait.
“When I heard they were giving it away today, I didn’t hesitate,” McClain said.
Ethel McClain of Montgomery is giving a boost after her COVID-19 shot at a Montgomery clinic this morning at Fire Hall No.9 on the site of the former Montgomery Mall. The clinic is expected to be open daily until Friday. McClain was the 477th person to be shot in the clinic this morning, as shown on his windshield.
Organizers funneled the vehicles in three lines through the open bays of Fire Station No.9 at the southern end of the complex that was once the shopping center. People were shot in their vehicles. Clinic workers wrote the numbers and hours in an erasable marker on the windshields. Workers and police directed recipients from the fire station to a parking lot for 15 minutes to ensure there was no serious reaction.
McClain was the 477th person to receive an injection this morning. She said it was the Pfizer vaccine. She received a card with a due date for the second dose in a few weeks. Follow-up clinics are planned in Montgomery and the other seven sites for the second doses.
Michele L. Canady, a substitute teacher at Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School in Montgomery since 2004, received her picture this morning and volunteered at the clinic. She checked the recipients of the shot as they waited their 15 minutes for possible reactions.
“It was so exciting for me to be a part of something bigger than me,” Canady said. “I knew I wanted to come and help.”
Michele L. Canady, a volunteer at the Shooting Clinic in Montgomery this morning, checks in on Dothan’s Jack and Rose Ingram after receiving their vaccinations.
Autauga County Emergency Management Agency director Ernie Baggett said around noon the clinic was functioning well. He said there were issues with early morning traffic control, but it was fixed. Baggett said he would work at the clinic all week.
“We’re all just throwing in this one,” Baggett said.
This story will be updated.
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