‘It is our best way forward:’ Hospital says vaccine demand slowed down with 16+ vaccinations

CONWAY, S.C. (WMBF) - Even though people ages 16 and older are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Conway Medical Center says demand for the vaccine has actually slowed down.

“There was a great demand, certainly, when we had 75-plus, then went to 65 and 55-plus,” said CMC spokesperson Allyson Floyd.

The healthcare provider opened its vaccine appointments for those ages 16 and up at around midnight Wednesday.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, 435 people had signed up.

According to Floyd, the number is far less compared to when the previous phases began.

“When 1B opened, which was 55-plus, by noon we had had 3,000,” she said.

The majority of the signups Wednesday were from people between the ages of 16 and 54, with a good number of them 55 and older.

Floyd said some people may just be holding off to get the vaccine.

“One of my children who’s now eligible said he would just wait until a week or two and let it all die down and then request his so there may be people waiting to do that,” said Floyd.

However, she said there’s always a concern of vaccine hesitancy among healthcare providers.

She hopes appointment requests pick up with the vaccine being the quickest way to return to a sense of normalcy.

“We’re certainly hopeful that there won’t be a large hesitancy to get the vaccine so that we can reach that herd immunity,” said Floyd.

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