Plans are being Made for COVID-19 Vaccinations to be Arranged by Online Appointment

Health officials will no longer be offering the COVID-19 vaccination on a first-come, first-served basis in the near future.

In a Friday press conference, Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey announced a new online appointment system is being devised to reduce the long waits in line that people seeking the vaccine are experiencing.

We realized that it’s a little bit more of a hurdle on the front end to do the online scheduling, but I think – not only for staff and health departments, but certainly the public at large – that will be a much more satisfying system than sitting around for several hours, and may or may not get a dose,” Dr. Piercey said during the press conference.

No additional details were offered as to how the online system would work or when it would be operational.

Officials with the Hamilton County Health Department said they would use a similar system in the future. Again, no further details were provided.

Vaccine rollout comes as there is no slowdown in the pandemic. As of Friday, Tennessee reported 6,369 new COVID-19 cases, 3,249 current hospitalizations and 126 new deaths for a total of 7,618 deaths since the pandemic began. Tennessee is currently averaging 7,686 new cases a day over the past week.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.