ROBSTOWN, Texas — Around 2,000 vaccines were distributed to people at the Richard Borchard Fairgrounds in Robstown on Tuesday, finishing up the 4,000 total vaccines received on Monday.
While Monday’s distribution came with its hiccups, Tuesday seemed to go much smoother for vaccine recipients.
“Today went real good. I got through here a lot faster than I thought I would,” said Tom Danczek, a Taft resident.
Danczek and others spent around two hours from start to finish, which is comparatively much shorter to the six to eight hours some waited on Monday.
“They did a good job. I’m very pleased,” said Diana De Leon, of Robstown, “We’ve been here since 10:30, and it’s already 12:48. So, that wasn’t too bad.”
“Marvelous, two hours, no problem. Just very smooth, everything was great, and I am so happy to have the first shot,” said fellow Robstown resident Phyllis Smith.
Corpus Christi resident Robert Garcia said he heard about the problems on Monday, and was glad to not expereince the same problems Tuesday.
“It was a little bit of a wait, but not as bad as I heard yesterday was really pretty bad. So, this one was about two hours, I timed it, so that worked out pretty well,” Garcia said. “After the hiccups of yesterday, I think now things are moving along pretty smooth. I’m just ready to get my second one, and kind of try to move forward, and not have to worry so much about this virus.”
However, Tuesday’s event was not without issue. Similar to Sunday's pre-registration fiasco, Monday night people had issues registering online for the event as well.
“For one thing, when you try to register online, you couldn’t get all the way through to get the code,” said Gloria Rodriguez of Corpus Christi.
Rodriguez was able to get registered at the Fairgrounds, and received her vaccine after two hours.
"I’m very impressed that everything is going so fast. I got here at 10:45, and by 12:25 I’m in line ready to go. The way they’re doing it is great, because I got registered right away. I applaud all the people that are working to volunteer for this kind of work. They’re making it real easy for us older people," she said.
Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales said she is aware of the issues people experienced, and those involved in the planning of the event will sit down to discuss how to improve registration for the next event.
“I think the fix is that we’re going to round-table together and figure out what works best. Whether we want to pre-register everybody, and say it’s first come-first served, or whether we just register everybody on site. What I can say to people is, I sympathize. My own family had the same frustrations in trying to sign up that everybody else did,” Canales said.
Canales also said event planners learned from issues that arose on Monday, and adapted for Tuesday, like adding maps for the event, and that more discussion will take place prior to the next event. She stressed the importance of the event, being able to provide vaccines for 4,000 people from more than 20 counties over a little over 24 hours.
According to the county, 4,000 more vaccines are scheduled to arrive on Monday, Jan. 18. If those vaccines do arrive on Monday, another mega vaccination event will be held on Tuesday.