Earlier this week I signed both my mom and I up for the Covid-19 vaccine with the all vax site in Lake County. Even though I'm an essential worker, my mom was the one given a dose. That is the problem with not having nearly enough doses for everyone. I got the email about the available dose a short while after signing us up. Since my work schedule is so crazy and unpredictable, I set the appointment up for Saturday morning.
The appointment was for this morning at 11:30, at the Lake County Fairgrounds. The people I know that have gotten their vaccines had it done at other sites. I knew the fairgrounds was a mass vaccination site, and thought I heard you stayed in the car, but didn't know what to expect exactly. We left the house shortly after 11, even though it's about 15 minutes from home. On the way there I was trapped behind a slow moving driver, it was very frustrating given the speed limit on the roads were higher than we were going. Anyway, I turned onto the street to get to the fairgrounds at 11:27, so I was in the parking lot at 11:30. I say I was in the parking lot at that point because it took me less than three minutes to drive down the road, but once I got into the parking lot, it was a different story. The line was long and snaked around the lot. Despite it's length, it moved faster than you'd think. At about the halfway point of the line there was a sign saying to get the QR code out. I had the email on my phone and simply kept my phone in hand as we made our way through the lot. When we were getting towards what seemed like the end of the line I thought finally.
What I didn't know was, those cars waiting outside had gotten their shots inside, and were spending the rest of their 15 minute post shot wait out there. Since the weather was so nice today, I had my window down at some point before I reached this point. Once people the parking lot attendants started approaching to give instructions and talk to us, I put my mask on. I kept it on until we left, since it was the beginning of the end, so to speak, at that point.
When we pulled up to the very front of the line in the parking lot, we were asked if we had the QR code handy. I said yes and held up my phone. The lady looked at it and asked my mom for her ID. My mom showed her and they then asked if this was a first dose. When we said yes, we were instructed to go straight forward. At this point we were driving to the side of the building that the craft fair is in. We went to the very last overhead door on that side and waited.
At this point I had no idea what to expect inside, we were just waiting for several minutes.
Finally the line started moving and we were instructed to go into the second row where people were lined up and instructed us to pull up close to the car in front of us. We were then told to turn the car off. The people working inside and out all had masks on. Once we were all settled in inside, they finally scanned the QR code, and asked for my mom's date of birth, along with going over a pre-screening questionnaire. After the questions were asked, we signed the consent form (we as in, I filled in the necessary information and my mom signed it). I opened my mom's window as the nurse was prepping to walk around the car. The nurse then came around to the passenger side and asked my mom for her date of birth again, she just needed the verbal confirmation. She then asked my mom which arm she wanted the shot in. My mom opted for the right arm, to make things easier. So the nurse just reached in the open window and gave her the shot. At this point it was 12:15, 45 minutes after the actual appointment time. Having that time slot reserved was more of a formality, it seems.
At this point were were all waiting in our line for about five minutes and then they told us all to start our engines. They then instructed everyone in our row to exit the building, allowing for another row of cars to pull in behind us. We followed the cones to the waiting area outside in the lot and were instructed to wait for the necessary 15 minutes, our time inside counted towards the 15 minutes. We were given a post op printout and were told if we experience any reactions to honk the horn. The gal told us that if our 15 minutes were up while people were still in front of us, just get out of line and go around them. There was no need to wait for the people in front of us to go first. In the hour plus we were there, I didn't hear a single horn.
The mass vaccination site at Lake County Fairgrounds was well managed. Now that I've been through there, I will know what to expect when I finally get my first dose.
