Lydia Mcaliley found joy on the hour line. He says the wait was worth every second to get the vaccine against COVID-19.
“It was a wonderful day. I feel blessed,” she said.
He joined thousands of people in Philadelphia to get the first shot of the consortium, which opened the Liacouras Center at Temple University from Friday the 12th until Saturday at 12 noon.
“It’s good to know that all of these people are building their immunity because of our efforts. So maybe a little physically tired, but not tired,” said Dr. Ala Stanford, who founded the consortium.
She says the crowd never gave in. During the night, they carried patients to the sand with waves of 30 and out of the cold. The consortium had 2,500 doses to give and realized it would not be enough. The city administered 2,000 more doses around 1 p.m.
“We could not have predicted that there would be hundreds, literally hundreds of people, between midnight and six, and there was no downtime in that 24-hour period,” he said.
Staff members of the Philadelphia Eagles, along with the pet Swoop, surprised the hundreds waiting in line early Saturday morning with Dunkin coffee and hot chocolate.
The consortium opened the clinic to the most vulnerable in the city; those in phase 1b who also live in 20 Philadelphia zip codes with high COVID positivity rates.
“It was a lot easier to take than the flu shot or the pneumonia shot. I didn’t even hear it. He was saying, ‘Oh, you’ve already put it here,'” said Bryan Jeffrey Daniels, of the South. Philadelphia.
He and his sister initially reached the line on Friday, but with the snow and rain they decided to leave and return.
“Knowing I came out, I’m happy,” said Diann Jones of West Philadelphia. He waited four hours on Saturday morning. He killed two family members due to the virus and has been waiting for the day when he could be protected.
“That’s something I’ve been praying for, at least to get a vaccine so I can get back to a certain sense of normalcy,” he said.
Dr. Stanford says all vaccinated at this clinic will have their second shot scheduled for the week of March 22nd.
The consortium will work with the city and the Liacouras center to decide if there will be another marathon clinic.
Copyright © 2021 WPVI-TV. All rights reserved.