Then Jerry Walkowiak, the manager of a nearby Chick-fil-A, stepped in to save the day.
“When I heard that, I called Jerry and asked if he would help us,” Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie told CNN. “After looking through it, he said, ‘There’s your problem right there. It’s backed up because you have one person visiting people.’ Then he showed us how to do it right. ‘
With the help of a few extra volunteers, Walkowiak turned the cluttered traffic jam into a smooth operation and reduced the hours of waiting to just 15 minutes.
More than 1,000 people received the vaccine that day, Haynie said. When everyone returns for their second dose on February 12, Walkowiak will be back to help drive the driveway.
“We had a bit of a hiccup in their drive-thru system, and we still needed people. So we gathered some amazing Rotary volunteers and went there and were able to speed up the registration section.”
While the U.S. still has a long way to go before the pandemic is over, Haynie hopes the experience of his city will encourage others to be vaccinated and help with the vaccination.
“Jerry got a call and gave up everything because he knows it’s a game changer to take out the vaccine,” Haynie said. “This is what the light looks like at the end of the long Covid tunnel.”