Fulton County mistakenly overbooks vaccine appointments leading to long lines, waits

ATLANTA — Patients called and emailed into Channel 2 newsroom Tuesday saying they waited far beyond their appointment times to get vaccinated in Fulton County.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr confirmed the county overbooked Tuesday appointments while it was transitioning to a new online state appointment system.

In other words, they opened up more appointments than what was actually available.

Most of the double-bookings were between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Patients were notified by emails of automatic rescheduling or asked to come back later in the week.

“They didn’t cancel completely,” said Vomingas Tavares, who showed up to a North Fulton County site. “They just cancelled and rescheduled for other dates.”

“It was a long line, but it went very well for the number of people and the weather,” she continued.

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For those who showed up and stayed, there was a longer wait, but the county says it never had a supply problem.

Everyone who wanted their vaccine got it. The county apologized to patients for any inconvenience.--

Joseph and Gracy Linton were among the 1,600 people vaccinated at Mercedes-Benz Stadium before 2:00 p.m.

On a normal day, 400 fewer people are booked and vaccinated for the entire day. The Lintons said the process was worth the wait –a half hour longer than it took to get their first dose--and a path to better days.

“I hope we’re open, (that) We’re open to hug,” Joseph Linton said. “We’re open to demonstrating more love with each other.

I hope our consciousness comes down to a more peaceful day to day life that we used to have. I hope people understand it’s truly a situation we had to do something about.”

“And at I think at this time we’re doing something about it,” he continued. “It appears that we’re doing a great job to getting everyone a vaccine.”

Mercedes-Benz Stadium is also preparing to host a federal mass vaccination site that’s set to open next Wednesday. The FEMA-led site will accommodate 6,000 vaccinations a day.