Concerns over when second COVID-19 vaccine dose is coming

Reporter: Anika Henanger Writer: Jackie Winchester
Published: Updated:
FILE – In this file photo dated Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020, a bottle of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on a table before being utilized in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Waiting, frustrating, worried: three words that describe people hoping to get their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine soon.

For one man, that second shot means he’ll see someone he hasn’t seen in more than a year: his wife, who lives out of state.

Thomas Silver has spent every day on the phone, calling the vaccination appointment operators, Lee County, even the governor’s office. He’s thousands of miles away from his wife and just wants to go back home, but won’t until it’s safe for him to do so.

“I don’t know what to do because I can’t get the second dose. I wanted to get it so I could leave. My wife is in Connecticut and I’m here.”

Silver did his duty by getting his first dose on Dec. 30 at a state-run site in Lee County.

“We stayed out there 15 hours. By 9 o’clock in the morning, I was number 42 in line or 43. There was like eight other people behind us.”

He has his vaccination card showing his second dose is due Jan. 27, but “I don’t even have an appointment.”

He keeps waiting for the call as he comes up on a year without his wife.

“She was going to come down but she had doctor’s appointments and stuff, but then the pandemic hit. Then she can’t go because her immune system is very low.”

He won’t risk his wife’s life, so he’s trapped dozens of states away, captive to a phone and a dose short.

UPDATE: Shortly before this story aired, Silver called to say he got his appointment.

As for the dozens of you who tried to make an appointment Wednesday for the first dose in Lee County and say your call was disconnected, the county says your status is still being determined. Trust WINK News to stay on top of it and get answers for you.

RELATED LINK: CDC info on the COVID-19 vaccine and the second dose


RESOURCE: WINK News is working by the minute on a daily basis to bring our coverage areas in Southwest Florida the latest COVID-19 vaccine information from the counties you live in.

Visit our COVID-19 vaccine schedules and information for SWFL story for rolling vaccine updates.

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