Traffic issues, long lines prompt Anchorage drive-thru vaccine site to close after less than 2 hours

People in yellow vests waved cars along West Northern Lights Boulevard on Friday afternoon after a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccine clinic caused traffic concerns and closed down hours before the clinic was originally scheduled to end.

“The site wasn’t large enough to accommodate the increase in traffic, which was becoming a hazard,” said Chelsea Ward-Waller, a spokesperson for the Anchorage Health Department.

The vaccine site, at Dempsey Anderson Ice Arena, was near two busy Anchorage thoroughfares and traffic was clogged in multiple directions. The appointment-free clinic — originally set to run from 2 to 8 p.m. — had closed its line by 3:45 p.m.

“It just was like a free-for-all out there,” said Jeff Wills, vice president of outreach at Visit Healthcare, the company that contracts with the Municipality of Anchorage for COVID-19 testing and vaccinations.

The line stretched several blocks down Northern Lights Boulevard, so the city and police department decided to shut things down early, he said.

“For the safety of the people on the streets,” Wills said. “We had this mass turnout that nobody was expecting.”

People were already lined up an hour before the clinic was set to begin that afternoon, he said.

Wills said they’ll still do another drive-thru clinic, given the “phenomenal” turnout and given that the first time was a learning experience. He pointed out that appointment-only clinics were having no-shows nationwide, and Alaska officials said this week that multiple people weren’t showing up to their appointments here as well.

Heather Harris, director of the Anchorage Health Department, previously said that the clinic was an effort to test whether eliminating the need to schedule an appointment would make getting a vaccination easier for some people.

While there may be some vaccines leftover from Friday’s clinic, Wills said they won’t go to waste, and he added that there was a waitlist to call just in case.

By Friday, 85,900 people in Anchorage had received at least one dose of the vaccine, reflecting about 37% of people age 16 and older in the municipality.

Sydney Jones, 21, made it in time for a shot after getting in line around 2:15 p.m. Friday. As she slowly rolled her car through the ice arena’s parking lot, Jones said she had already been waiting nearly two hours.

She chose the drive-in site because she has Fridays off and it was more convenient than making an appointment.

“I can just sit here as long as they need me to sit here,” Jones said.

She passed the time taking a few calls and listening to the Taylor Swift album “evermore” on loop.

“I’m really grateful that they’re doing it this way,” Jones said. “Because I know it’s probably really convenient to do it this way for some people when they’re coming home from work or with their kids.”