You must apologize to all the people who have been waiting for hours in the vaccine line of the Hamilton County Health Department.
Channel 3 had a story in which there were seven people in one vehicle and all seven people got the shots after others were turned down. One of the occupants were heard to have had a contact inside. Even if this story is proven false, it seems that the Department of Health has a better count the shots and answer questions honestly. This process does not work because it is only one place and undoubtedly our health department can not count. I hope there was no inside influence that vaccinated the seven people in the vehicle after it was closed.
Come on people, let’s get everyone a vaccine as soon as possible without playing favorites and giving a lame apology over the score.
Rick Mincy
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This is what the more cynical of us expected all along. Across the country, also here in Hamilton County, the debate is over ‘first-time essential workers’ versus ‘elderly and infirm first’; the real rule for distribution is ‘that you are well connected first, your plebeians can wait.’
Politicians use the faint excuse to ‘build confidence in the vaccine’, and now everyone in our own health department is losing the ability to count?
Anyone who believes this was a true calculation calls me; I have cheap property for sale in Arizona.
Charles McCullough
East ridge
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I’m not a health professional, but I know enough to know that the injectable vials contain the dose and the amount of doses in each vial. So if some workers gave 6-7 injections out of a vial for five, something is wrong.
Are the vials incorrectly labeled, or do the people doing the injections not know how to fill a syringe? This is very worrying.
If I get a wrong dose at 70 and think I’m relatively safe and not, then why do we get these shots? Would anyone explain this to me?
I’m also quite worried about a story in the news yesterday that a man brought his 90-year-old mother who was deprived of oxygen and in a wheelchair. Is this how we as a city are?
Connie Chadwick
East ridge
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On Wednesday, December 30, I drove from my home in the Ooltewah area to get a COVID-19 vaccination. When I was 90 years old (and living alone), that in itself was no small feat.
I was turned away by the very pleasant and helpful Chattanooga police officers at the approaching ramp of Highway 153 to Amnicola Highway. Later, I and many others learned that some “mysterious additional” doses of the vaccine had been found, and staff members of the Department of Health called their friends to receive them. Unfortunately, I had no friend in the health department!
It smells of incompetence, injustice and perhaps illegality. It must be thoroughly investigated for the inability to properly serve the inhabitants of the country. The Department of Health owes all regional services.
Philip J. Gross
CDR US Navy (Ret)
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As a Hamilton County resident who was waiting in line for my vaccine on Wednesday, I would like to express my deep gratitude. During my two-hour experience, I felt well-informed and cared for by employees of the Department of Health.
The staff I encountered were constantly on their feet and moving through the long queues of cars delivering public health amid a worldwide pandemic with kindness and good cheer for thousands of citizens.
At short notice, they have provided a living saving to many people in our community while others across the country are still waiting. I am thankful and thankful that more will be vaccinated in our country next week.
Becky Williams