'Such a relief': People flock to Heinz Field for covid vaccine clinic by Giant Eagle, Steelers - TribLIVE

Debbie Andres had reason to smile beneath her purple mask Tuesday afternoon as she strolled outside Heinz Field and prepared to drive home.

The sun was shining. And after several bleak winter weeks of trying to book an appointment with any provider she could find, the 63-year-old Harrison woman managed to get her first dose of a covid-19 vaccine.

She let out a cathartic sigh.

“I’m so relieved,” Andres said. “So relieved to maybe start getting a life back again.”

Andres was among about 4,000 people who managed to secure online appointments via Giant Eagle for a vaccine clinic this week. The opening of the clinic — nearly a month after the NFL offered up Heinz Field along with other stadiums nationwide as potential vaccination sites — was welcome news for those who have been trying unsuccessfully to get a vaccine in the region. Pennsylvania began distributing vaccine doses to primarily health care workers in late December and expanded to more priority groups in early January.

“I tried for a long, long time like everybody else. … I was constantly checking all the different sites,” Andres said. “I kept checking to see when the (Giant Eagle) site went live, and I got in there right away and just picked the first spot that I found.”

Recipients flocked to the stadium on Pittsburgh’s North Shore from across Western Pennsylvania, including not only Allegheny but Westmoreland, Butler, Beaver and other neighboring counties. They included everyone from front-line health care workers in their 30s, to 92-year-old Pauline Napolitano of Monroeville.

As he headed toward the distribution line inside Heinz Field’s PNC Champions Club, Dennis Henderson of Hanover, Beaver County wasn’t emotional but rather eager to “get it over with, check it off the list.”

“I haven’t been going much anywhere anyway, and this isn’t going to change anything, really,” said Henderson, 71, who became the first of his family and close friends to get a vaccine shot.

Giant Eagle last week announced the three-day clinic in partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Hours after the sign-ups opened, all the online appointments had been booked via the chain’s scheduling tool, Giant Eagle officials said. A limited number of appointments were set aside to be made by phone Monday for those without internet or computer access.

The phone registration appointments were gone an hour later.

“It’s been tough,” said Eleanor Reubi, 74, of Ross, who was grateful to secure a spot at the Heinz Field clinic. She said that initially, she had some qualms, but now she feels confident about the safety and importance of getting vaccinated.

“I was hesitant, I won’t lie,” Reubi said. “But I don’t want to get (covid), either.”

Reubi said she’s hopeful that getting the public vaccinated is a step toward normalcy, and lamented how much she misses being able to “just get together” with friends amid the pandemic.

”It’s been a long year — very long,” she said with a somber chuckle.

The Heinz Field clinic was available only to people in Pennsylvania’s phase 1A priority group, which includes health care workers, people 65 and older and people aged 16-64 with certain chronic health conditions. It offered the first of the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Recipients were given cards reminding them to return for their second dose in three weeks.

Andres is about a year shy of being old enough to qualify for the older-age priority group; she was eligible instead because she has the qualifying health condition of multiple sclerosis, a chronic illness affecting the central nervous system.

It took her less than 10 minutes to wait in line Tuesday and get her first shot, which she described as quick and painless.

Her advice for those who have not been able to get a vaccine dose yet: “Keep on trying. It’s just such a relief when you get the appointment. And have your friends try for you, too. Just, everybody try.”

Pennsylvania has not yet begun mass distributions of vaccines for broader populations and phase 1B and 1C essential workers, as some other states have been doing for several weeks.

Statewide, about 3.7 million doses have been allocated through March 6, including nearly 337,000 first doses and about 189,000 second doses scheduled to be administered this week, the state Department of Health reports. Nearly 2.5 million doses had been administered as of Monday. Those figures exclude vaccines administered in Philadelphia, which is operating its own vaccine distribution.

Later this week, Pennsylvania providers are set to receive the state’s first shipments of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which should help expedite the vaccination process since it only requires a single dose.

Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Natasha at 412-380-8514, nlindstrom@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Coronavirus | Local | Pittsburgh | Top Stories