GREENSBORO, N.C. — Four thousand coronavirus vaccines were booked in less than an hour in Guilford County Tuesday.
The phone lines and appointment website opened at 8 a.m. Officials say by 8:15 a.m. their lines had received 11,813 calls. Many of them did not get through.
"It has been a nightmare," Tom Monroe said.
Monroe is a Vietnam Veteran who lives in Greensboro. He's tried for more than a month to get his appointment.
"I've called every county around Guilford County getting various responses," Monroe said, "I called Alamance County, for instance, 157 times yesterday."
His wife, Carmen, tried to help him when Guilford County's appointments opened for the week.
"I speak Spanish so I even tried the Spanish line thinking, 'well maybe I'll luck out and I'll get through.' I got the same message in Spanish," Carmen Monroe said.
The county said over the phone appointments filled in 30 minutes. Online slots were taken in 30 minutes. When appointments closed at 9 a.m. the county's website had 55,000 page views.
Other counties are seeing high demand too.
"600 slots (went) in six minutes," Trey Wright said, "I did not realize it would go that fast."
Wright is the Rockingham County Public Health Director. He said most of their patients are county residents but not all.
He's seen patients cancel appointments to go to vaccine sites in Guilford County and said a small number have come from other counties to Rockingham County for their vaccines.
What caught his eye was a few appointments made from Rockingham County, Virginia.
He believes those appointments were made by mistake because both counties' websites are similar. He said those patients still traveled to North Carolina for their shots.
"Many are so worried about not receiving that vaccine that they're trying to make appointments where ever they can. Almost like a lottery-like to see which one they can get to first," Wright said.
Tom Monroe said he is now on Cone Health's vaccine appointment waiting list but he will continue to try elsewhere until he gets an appointment.
"I'm exhausting every avenue available to me," Monroe said.
Walgreens will begin vaccinations at 300 North Carolina stores Friday but NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen told WFMY News 2 that supply will be very limited.
"They may have 100 doses over a whole week to give out at Walgreen store," Dr. Cohen said, "The reality is we just don't have a lot of supply to go around."
Guilford County is scheduling new appointments on a weekly basis. Officials ask for patience and said to keep trying back as appointments open each week.
