VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Walk-in registration and same-day vaccinations are now available at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
Registrants should schedule an appointment to guarantee a vaccine. Walk-ups are allowed but have limited access to same-day vaccinations as slots are on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Virginia Beach residents and workers can bypass an invitation from the Health Department to schedule an appointment in-person.
Starting Monday, walk-up registration will be available at the Convention Center between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., on the following days:
Monday, April 12 & 19
Wednesday, April 14 & 21
Thursday, April 15 & 22
Officials say registrants will be scheduled for another clinic if a same-day vaccination is not available.
For those who don’t want to chance it, there is now a direct link online to schedule a vaccine appointment and bypass pre-registration.
"This is an effort to make sure that we don’t waste any vaccine and that we get vaccine in arms as quickly as possible," said Virginia Beach Department of Health Emergency Coordinator Bob Engle.
Unopened vaccines are returned to the CDC, but the city would rather put shots in arms so they’re encouraging people to come get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Virginia Beach Department of Health says around 200 people walked up for vaccinations before noon Monday and there were still another 800 shots available.
"We left over 2000 appointments vacant last week, so this week, we’ve made the decision since we cannot no longer fill the clinics with people from the pre-registration portal, that we would do walk-up registrations," said Engle.
According to a news release, 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds are only eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine and must come with a parent or guardian. Those under age 16 are not eligible for vaccination.
People can checkto see what days a specific vaccine is available by pre-registering for an appointment online.