Six hundred residents of Whitfield County ages 65 and older will get the COVID-19 vaccine at a satellite drive-thru on Monday, Jan. 18, after registration for the vaccine filled up in less than three hours once the application process was opened.
Due to the high demand, the city, county and local health department announced Friday afternoon a second day of drive-thru vaccinations will be available on Jan. 20.
The only way to register for an appointment is online. Visit bit.ly/3su2 to sign up. As participants cancel or shift their appointment times, more appointments may become available, so people should keep checking back to the link if they are trying to get an appointment, according to a news release from the City of Dalton.
The pop-up site - located at the Dalton Convention Center at 2211 Dug Gap Battle Road - is a collaboration between the North Georgia Health District, the city of Dalton and Whitfield County.
Dalton City Councilwoman Annalee Harlan was "instrumental" in setting up the drive-thru site, Dalton city spokesman Bruce Fraizer said in a news release.
"It's nice to be on offense for once," Harlan said. "I'm the liaison to the Public Safety Commission and also a licensed paramedic, so you can say it was familiar territory for me."
Dalton Mayor David Pennington commended the hard work Harlan has put in to get the drive-thru together.
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / The Whitfield County Health Department is seen on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 in Dalton, Ga."She's done a truly marvelous job and her community thanks her," Pennington said.
Whitfield County Chair Jevin Jensen, who said one of his top priorities is getting the vaccine to as many people in the county as possible, said in a news release more work will be done.
"The health department started at 400 vaccinations a day and now they're up to more than 600 a day, but there's such a huge demand," the release states. "This is the only way we are going to beat this pandemic. Having the Convention Center which is a joint facility the city and county share, it just made sense to select this as our second location."
Local government hopes to administer over 1,000 vaccinations a day as long as the supplies are there.
More drive-thru dates and times after Monday will be announced soon based on the demand and vaccine availability, Fraizer said.
The vaccinations will be made by trained and certified paramedics from the Dalton Fire Department and volunteer nurses from the community. Support including traffic control and logistical support will be provided by the Dalton Police Department, Dalton Fire Department and Whitfield County agencies.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.