On Saturday, January 23, 2021, the county health department and the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority (KCEAA) gave 3,870 COVID-19 vaccines at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. It was the largest one-day vaccination effort in the county up to that point.
The Saturday clinic closed a three-day push. From Thursday through Saturday, about 6,500 people got a first or second dose. People vaccinated included residents over 65 and their caregivers, health care workers and first responders.
More doses were on hand than first expected. Because of that, staff called several hundred people who had left their names on the health department’s call-down list. The county health officer said the goal was to get vaccines into arms as fast and as efficiently as possible.
Dozens of volunteers helped. Partners included the City of Charleston, the Kanawha County Commission, CAMC, West Virginia Health Right and the University of Charleston. Members of a FEMA team worked as greeters, entered data and directed traffic. The clinic had been planned to vaccinate about 2,000 people; see Health Department to Vaccinate 2,000 at Saturday Clinic.