By Live 5 Web Staff|February 18, 2021 at 5:05 AM EST - Updated February 18 at 12:17 PM
WALTERBORO, S.C. (WCSC) - Fetter Health Care is hosting its first COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Colleton County beginning Thursday morning.
A little more than 20 percent of the population of the county is currently eligible under the state’s Phase 1A plan.
The clinic is set to open at 9 a.m. at the Colleton County Recreation Complex, at 280 Recreation Ln. in Walterboro.
Fetter Health Care CEO Aretha Powers said they do not have a set number of vaccines that will be administered, but simply hope to give as many as possible.
Renrick Brathwaite is one of the people who arrived early for the vaccine.
“We expected hundreds of people here,” he said. “You come here early, get injected, you go home, you relax yourself and you hope that this will work and let you live a little longer.”
Brathwaite said he realized rainy weather might prompt people to huddle together under a roof outside the building, which would break with social distancing guidance. So Brathwaite said he took it upon himself to use a golf card to write down numbers and hand them out to people as they arrived in hopes of letting them secure their place in line.
By shortly before 7 a.m., two hours before the clinic was set to begin, he said 25 had arrived.
He said he tried to get the vaccine a couple of days earlier but was told to call a number to set up an appointment.
“And that’s the reason I came here because I know if you have to call and make appointments, it’s going to take days,” he said. “And at my age, I don’t know how many days I have.”
She said Fetter is working to host such clinics in the more rural parts of the state including Colleton County.
Powers also said they plan to host a similar clinic in Edisto soon.
Copyright 2021 WCSC. All rights reserved.