DALLAS — Thousands of people waited in line for hours Saturday in Dallas for a vaccine, but some with valid appointments got turned away and Dallas officials said Sunday they’re not sure how the issue happened.
The technical challenges of those without internet access or computer skills often mean kids are helping parents. That was true for Kyle Boice signing up his mother a couple weeks ago.
“She's 85 years old, has a fair amount of risk factors,” Boice said.
When they arrived for her 4 p.m. appointment at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Saturday, the line was backed up to Union Station. Cars rode closely together attempting to prevent people from skipping.
“As the hours ticked by, we kept seeing saying, ‘Oh, it's got to be close,' but no,” Boice said.
The city sent out 10,000 invitations for its 5,000 doses, and at least 7,000 people who weren’t invited had the link shared with them. As a result, 40 percent of people who showed up Thursday got turned away for having invalid appointments they got by signing up from a shared link. 30 percent of people were turned away Saturday as the city tried to use up more than 2,700 doses.
Councilman Chad West says there’s been a lack of communication from Mayor Eric Johnson, who also doubles as the city’s emergency management director handling the rollout.
“I was getting calls last night pretty late from constituents who I have literally never heard from in the last two years who have never complained about anything,” West said. “They don't want to hear about the squabbling. They don't want to hear about that someone still is not talking to someone, so they're like, ‘Just get it together to get us vaccines so you can save our lives.'"
With another 5,000 doses coming this week, no one has shared a solution to the link-sharing problem.
Dallas County dealt with the same thing, and this week it will switch to using QR codes.
“We would hope that we could learn from those mistakes as a city,” West said.
For four hours and 45 minutes, Boice was stuck in line with his mom, inching through garages.
“Ended up relieving myself on the street because there were no toilets anywhere,” Boice said. “I honestly don’t know how other people coped with it.”
After nearly five hours, the line was stopped, and they were told the city had run out of doses.
“I do find it stunning that you can pick an appointment for the middle of their appointment schedule and they run out of vaccine before you get there,” Boice said. “It raises the question of how could you have not seen that that might be an issue.”
The mayor’s office and city officials said Sunday they didn’t know why people with valid appointments were turned away or how many people it happened to.
Mayor Johnson in a letter Sunday said, “We are responsible and accountable for our issues, and we are working hard to solve them.”
Boice’s mom got a note telling her to come back and she’d get the first shot at a new appointment, but he says after Saturday, she’s not trying again and just staying home instead.
“Very poor planning and organization,” Boice said. “Whoever was ultimately responsible for this ought to be held accountable for it.”