KNOX COUNTY, Tenn — When seniors 75 years old and up became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, Amy Christian tried to get her parents an appointment. Her mom is 79 with underlying conditions. Her dad is 85 with Alzheimer's.
"They want to get protected," Christian said. "They're not even wanting to go out even to the grocery store anymore."
But so far, Christian has not been able to get them a spot. She's called the Sevier County Health Department, the East Region COVID-19 hotline, and visited the Eventbrite links. They have even tried looking at some of the surrounding counties.
"It's very frustrating ... they're not tech-savvy at all and it just feels like we're getting the runaround," Christian said. "I don't see how people are getting these appointments when we've done all we can do."
Tom and Sally Brown, of Anderson County, have been frustrated with the sign-up process too.
"As best as I can tell, there is one phone number that you're supposed to call if you live in any one of the ten counties that surround Knox County," Tom Brown said. "I tried it and I got nowhere."
Corie Gouge, the public information officer for the East Tennessee region, said all of those counties currently have a waitlist.
"We have a very high call volume in all of our counties and on our COVID-19 Vaccine Hotline," Gouge said in an email to 10News. "Anyone that calls wishing to receive the vaccine is placed on a waitlist and when we receive more vaccine or when they are eligible we will notify them."
Tom Brown did his research and wrote to Governor Bill Lee's office about their experience trying to get the vaccine. Meanwhile, his wife Sally kept calling and finally got them added to a waitlist on Friday afternoon.
Spanish Version: ‘Es frustrante’ | Personas mayores en el Este de Tennessee en espera de citas de vacunación
They got the call back they've been waiting for the very next day.
"Lo and behold, they called me... wanted to know if we could show up for my 9:30 Monday morning appointment," Tom Brown said. "It was great."
Sally Brown said Monday can't come soon enough.
"I sent an email to our daughter in Norway about it," she said. "I was so excited. So yes, we are thrilled."
Next week, state health commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said the state will transition to an online appointment scheduling system.
"This is an effort to minimize the number of people who wait in line for hours and hours and then sometimes could be turned away due to exhausted inventory," she said. "We've never undertaken something this massive so there are going to be lessons learned along the way."