NORFOLK, Va. — Some confusion involving the Virginia Department of Health's community vaccination center at Military Circle Mall meant more than 100 people who expected to get their initial doses of COVID-19 vaccine or booster shots left without them.
“They gave me an appointment for today at 11. I went there and the doors were locked and nobody is even in there,” said John Yandle.
Yandle, who was one of many federal employees who showed up, came to the clinic for his first COVID-19 vaccine. He said he had to get the shot Monday to comply with the federal vaccine mandate.
Yandle said, “I’m just going to go and plead my case, say they weren’t open and show them my documentation.”
Officials who run the vaccination clinic at Military Circle Mall said an administrative error accidentally created vaccine and booster appointments for Monday.
They released a statement:
Upon further investigation, there was an administrative error and vaccine appointments were accidentally scheduled today at the Military Circle Mall site. As soon as VDH realized the error, the process for scheduling vaccines went from open (searchable) to closed (unsearchable). In addition, last week emails were sent to individuals asking them to call the 888-vax-in to reschedule appointments and the scheduling team tried to call individuals, leaving a voicemail for those that had one. The scheduling team is again calling those with appointments this morning and for the remainder of the day.
There will not be COVID-19 vaccinations at the MCM CVC today and we apologize for the inconvenience. Individuals can get vaccinated at the Military Circle Mall site Tuesday-Saturdays from 10 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. Since the MCM's opening as a CVC on October 9, more than 8,200 vaccinations have been provided.
Yandle said, “It’s frustrating, very frustrating because it’s something I didn’t want anyway.”
After Yandle left the clinic, a steady flow of people kept coming.
Janice Dudley and her husband expected to get their Pfizer booster shots after making an appointment several days ago. She said they even received a reminder about their appointments Sunday, a day ahead of them.
Dudley said, “Disturbed, because there’s so much effort for people to get their boosters, get their vaccines and we’ve done everything they told us to do and here we are and we can’t get our boosters.”
Many of the federal workers who showed up said they took off work. They planned to make other appointments but called the administrative error a huge inconvenience.
Officials running the clinic said if you need a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot, it’s open from Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. to give doses.
The clinic only is open on Mondays for COVID-19 testing.