Local hospitals in Mount Pleasant opened the clinic on Jan. 22 for residents eligible for the first shots of the Covid-19 vaccine. But shortly after the drive-through opened, the registration of declining computer systems slowed, leaving hundreds of people waiting in heavy traffic.
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.
“At Chick-fil-A, we’re about being the most concerned business in the world, and when Mayor Haynie asked us to come over, we looked at what their drive-through system was,” Walkowiak told the news station. WCBD said. .
“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.”
More than 29 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the United States, according to data published Saturday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While the U.S. still has a long way to go before the pandemic is over, Haynie hopes the experience of his town will encourage others to be vaccinated and help with 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.”