By midday Monday, the open slots to receive first-dose COVID-19 vaccines for the rest of the week at Walmart supercenters in Hamilton County had been filled.
Openings at county vaccination sites at the Tennessee Riverpark, the CARTA bus barn and Enterprise South Nature Park had long since been filled. And no dates beyond Wednesday had even been posted.
But the Walmart stores in some of the counties surrounding Hamilton - at Kimball in Marion County, Dayton in Rhea County, and Dunlap in Sequatchie County, all in Tennessee, and at LaFayette in Walker County, Georgia, for instance - still had plenty of availability for first doses.
Dr. Lisa Piercey, the Tennessee health commissioner, said last week there was vaccine hesitancy in some parts of the state.
"I've got about 12 or 15 counties statewide who are sitting on product because they don't have a demand," she said.
Piercey didn't name the counties, but a check of the state's vaccine dashboard seemed to show the demand in rural counties outside of Hamilton County was less than that inside the county.
Indeed, other than Meigs County, the 13th smallest county in the state by population, all contiguous counties to Hamilton had smaller percentages of their population who had received either a set of two COVID-19 Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one vaccine of either brand.
Hamilton, in figures through Sunday, had 16.19% of its citizens with at least one vaccine and 8.39% with both. Other than Meigs, the percentages ranged from a high of 14.69% in Marion County to a low of 11.02% in Bradley County with one vaccine, and from a high of 7.57% in Marion County to a low of 5.16% in Bledsoe County with two vaccines.
The state's move Monday to Phase 1c of vaccinations - including residents with various serious medical conditions - meant about 1 million more people would be eligible.
It's hard to say exactly what is keeping people from seeking a free vaccine for which they are eligible, and which might help them and the general population return to a sense of normalcy when herd immunity is reached.
Public attitudes toward vaccination may be split into three categories, according to an October 2020 article in The Lancet.
The largest number is maybe 70%, who have been persuaded the vaccines were thoroughly tested, are safe and will provide as much of an immunity against the virus as is available. The second group are the anti-vaxxers, said Dr. Vish Viswanath, professor of health communication in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"These are people on the fringes," he said. "They are not going to change their views."
The third group, perhaps a third of the population, is undecided.
"These people have legitimate questions," Viswanath said. "They want to do the right thing, but they have doubts. This is where we need to be focusing our attention."
A Chattanooga doctor said Monday he'd seen similar results in his practice. Around a third weren't sure about the vaccine, he said. He could have a discussion with those who weren't sure whether it was safe, he said, but there wasn't much he could do about those who were dead-set against it.
We would urge those still uncertain about the vaccine to contact their doctors, health departments or trustworthy websites to allay their fears. Such professionals can tell you how safe the inoculations are and what a difference they can make in the speed of life getting back to what it was just a year ago.
With reports over the last month that thousands of vaccine doses were wasted in Knox, Shelby and Rutherford counties, it also is incumbent that health officials both do more to promote the vaccines to as many people as possible and have waiting lists of people who can come at the last minute.
Piercey said last week the state is not expected to receive a new shipment of vaccines until the end of the month and, at the time, only had about 200,000 vaccines to last until they did.
Locally, as of midday Monday, health departments in Bledsoe, Bradley, Grundy, Hamilton, Marion, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Polk, Rhea and Sequatchie counties all reported having vaccines available. Hamilton County even offers free transportation to vaccine sites based on availability.
That makes it doubly important that no vaccines go unused, preferably by the people who live in the counties in which the vaccines are more widely available. If they don't, people in counties where it is unavailable will seek them out and take the slots.
After all, Piercey said in a recent news briefing, "You've heard me say before - the best vaccine is the one you can [get] the soonest."