ROCK HILL, S.C. — After a bumpy vaccine rollout in South Carolina, major progress is being made in Rock Hill.
Governor Henry McMaster toured a mass vaccination clinic that started at the Galleria Mall on Friday. It’s open by appointment from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Once the supply increases, the location will be capable of doing 1,000 vaccinations per day, according to Piedmont Medical Center which is running the clinic.
WCNC Charlotte talked to someone who thought they’d have to wait until March to be vaccinated, so it was a welcome surprise. Governor McMaster called the clinic ‘a model’ for the state.
“We’re making a lot of progress; it was bumpy at first,” said Governor McMaster.
After touring the new mass vaccination clinic, Governor McMaster acknowledged there was initially confusion around the state; specifically whether providers should hold onto second doses or use them immediately.
“When you get those doses, you get them in someone’s arm before the week is out because it does no good sitting on the shelf,” said Governor McMaster.
The clinic is helping to get shots off the shelves and into peoples’ arms like David Trella who thought he’d have to wait until March and drive 50 miles to be vaccinated.
“It was like tomorrow Friday it’s available, so needless to say I jumped all over that,” said Trella.
Piedmont Medical Center says they opened the clinic a few days early after receiving word hundreds of vaccines were going to expire.
“Once we knew we had 500 available to us, within two days we were up and running,” said Mark Nosacka, CEO of Piedmont Medical Center.
“This is a success, this is a model, we hope others will emulate this,” said Governor McMaster.
Once supply increases, the clinic is capable of doing 1,000 vaccines per day, according to Piedmont Medical Center. Governor McMaster says there’s still plenty of work ahead with about 80,000 shots in the state yet to be administered.
“We still need to hurry, we need places like this operating to go ahead and get those doses,” said Governor McMaster.
Governor McMaster expects South Carolina’s supply from the federal government to increase in March, but he says it will still take a while before everyone is vaccinated, so he encourages people to continue wearing masks and social distancing.