PDX VAX SUX

If you were planning to get your Covid shot at the drive-through at the Portland airport, you might want to reconsider, baby. Yesterday they tried to get 5,800 patients through there, and the result was gridlock, with hours of delay for a lot of people. They weren't happy campers. Another ding on the report card for Killer Kate and her bureaucrat pal.

One problem seems to be that the prospective injectees were showing up early. Given how difficult it is to get the shot scheduled, you can understand why folks might do that. But it contributed to gumming up the works, and even if people didn't show up until their appointment times, the powers-that-be probably overbooked what they can handle out there.

Connie Amos, site lead for the vaccination site, said Saturday was their biggest day yet at PDX, with 5,800 vaccination appointments, though that could ultimately prove to be too much to handle, she said.

“How many Oregonians can we vaccinate in a day at this site with the current infrastructure?” Amos said. “Maybe 5,000 is our number, we just need to keep on improving our infrastructure.”

If you're not disabled or a caregiver for a disabled person, and if a spot opens up for you somewhere else, you may want to avoid the drive-through. The attraction of it is convenience, but given yeserday's fiasco, it sounds like anything but.

If you missed my post about the much better scene at the Convention Center, take a look at it here. My experience there on Thursday was excellent. I was in and out in less than a half hour, and 15 minutes of that was spent sitting around comfortably and being observed after the jab. I stood in a line for less than three minutes. I showed up about five minutes early, and that made no difference whatsoever. The setup there worked well.

Adding a bunch of vehicles into the mix makes it a much different ballgame. It's easy for me to say, but you might want to leave that for the people who have no other option.