Mercedes Benz Stadium will temporarily not require COVID-19 vaccine appointments

Click here for updates on this story

    ATLANTA, GA (WGCL) — The southeast’s largest vaccination site will no longer require an appointment for a dose, at least until Tuesday.

Fulton County officials hope the temporary policy change at the Mercedes Benz Stadium will increase vaccine accessibility.

The site didn’t require appointments Monday and it won’t require them through 6:30p on Tuesday.

With Georgia lifting its covid restrictions last week, many folks who showed up at the stadium told CBS46 accessibility is more important than before.

“The availability of vaccines has really helped, I’m all for opening up society.” Annie Yasin continued, “I work in the criminal justice system and we’re finally starting back jury trials, this helps facilitate the backlog.”

Saakib Zafrani added, “I think we should be a little more cautious, but we’re headed in the right direction.”

The route to normalcy looks much like the one mapped out at Mercedes Benz right now: fewer hurdles, more opportunity.

Workers directed folks in with no appointments or pre-registration. The Fulton County Board of Health believes people should able to get shots quickly and efficiently, calling it critical.

It comes just in time for Cleon McRae who is set to go on vacation in a matter of days.

“I started doing the math,” he explained. “Restaurants, when I travel, wanting to do stuff. I just want to be able to, you know, [see] grandparents, parents, stuff like that. I want to be around family without endangering them.”

With walk-up vaccine chances like this along with local groups traveling to assist the homebound, the White House expects by the end of this week nearly half of all adults would have had their first shots. The CDC reports only 28 percent of Americans are vaccinated.

“It was a pretty great experience for me.” Chinelo Onony was once vaccine-hesitant but now she’s a full-on advocate. Onony told CBS46 she’s hoping others follow her change of heart, right in time for the new change of policy which improves Georgians’ accessibility.

“Know that this [shot] is not just for you, it’s for other people as well.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.