PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Thousands of people are vying for vaccine appointment across the state. There is big demand and limited supply, making it understandably difficult to secure an appointment.
A St. Johns County woman has taken it upon herself to score vaccine appointments for the elderly in her community who don't have computers, smart phones or even email addresses.
“Monday, Wednesday, Friday with Publix and Thursdays for the county," Amy Wacaster describes her new schedule. "We’re on it every morning except for Tuesday.”
It's been a busy few weeks for Wacaster. She’s a stay-at-home mom of two, but now her mornings have been taken over with her new task.
“It does require persistence though," she says. "You need kind of several people working on each individual name.”
The names are those of local low-income seniors who are in dire need of help securing a vaccine.
“I start by calling them individually and just getting to know them," says Wacaster. Then she says she has them answer about 20 personal information questions that she will need to book a vaccine appointment.
Story continues below.
Her first success was getting her neighbor an appointment. Now, she’s helping strangers.
She says the phone call after a successful booking is meaningful. “We both cried on the phone," she says.
Who are these seniors?
They’re people who get food deliveries from Pie in the Sky every week. A total of 465 seniors get help from the nonprofit and Wacaster has helped 30 of them so far.
Wacaster is connected with the organization through her church.
“So so grateful," says Pie in the Sky Executive Director Malea Guiriba. "The pandemic has added a whole other layer of fear of living for seniors.”
Guiriba says there are 6,000 low income seniors in the county who may not get a vaccine without the help of someone like Wacaster.
This one shot feels like their one shot at life again.
"Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something," Guiriba says.
Wacaster has now looped in her friends to help. These volunteers don’t stop at securing the appointment. If a senior doesn’t have a way to get there, they will get in their car and drive them to and from their vaccination.
Wacaster tells me she is determined to help as many people as she can. She says she knows getting a vaccine will be even more difficult for this vulnerable population once the state expands eligibility.