'It's really nice to have': Walk-ins allowed at mass vaccine site at Tysons Corner Center
Virginia First Lady Pamela Northam paid a visit to Tysons Corner Center late Wednesday afternoon. She applauded the clinic for starting to allow walk-ups. (7News)
TYSONS, Va. (7News) — This week, a mass vaccination clinic at Tysons Corner Center mall became the first in Northern Virginia to offer walk-up vaccinations without an appointment.
Andy John, Northern Virginia chief regional coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, says after the Tysons Community Vaccination Center opened Tuesday of last week.
It was at capacity for the first few days. However, by the weekend demand had dropped off.
Organizers believed the switch from people using the state pre-registration system to the CDC’s Vaccine Finder accounted for the drop-off.
“We were hoping the demand would pick back up this week,” John said. “Early in the week when we saw we [still weren’t at] full capacity, we made the decision to go ahead and allow walk-ups, because we don’t want to prevent anybody that might be here at the mall shopping from coming in to get their shot.”
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Walk-ups were allowed as of Monday, and John says on Tuesday, about 300 people showed up and got a shot without an appointment.
The mass vaccination site is inside the former Lord & Taylor store at Tysons Corner Center. It administers the Pfizer vaccine and can do up to 3,000 shots a day.
Walk-up appointments are allowed Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Both Virginia and non-Virginia residents are allowed to get shots there.
The clinic is open from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. for people with appointments.
Virginia First Lady Pamela Northam paid a visit to the site late Wednesday afternoon. She applauded the clinic for starting to allow walk-ups.
“Not everyone is able to do things online very easily,” Northam said. “I have an elderly aunt that really struggled with that for some time. So I think it’s really nice to have this opportunity just to be able to walk in and have it available for you.”
