Moderna shipment arrives Tuesday to fulfill the 2,500 vaccine appointments scheduled Monday at Spokane Arena

Another 2,500 people will get the coronavirus vaccine at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena later this week after CHAS Health got a shipment of Moderna’s vaccine Tuesday morning.

Those Spokane Arena vaccines, however, are already reserved for those who made an appointment on Monday

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Kelley Charvet, chief administrative officer at CHAS, said they had to close down the online scheduling tool within minutes of opening it due to the large number of individuals who got into the virtual line.

“Not unlike what we anticipated previously, the demand for vaccinations is very high, so we did again fill those schedules very quickly,” Charvet said.

Charvet said more people were able to access CHAS phone lines to schedule appointments this week than last week, when phone lines got tied up early in the registration process.

CHAS staff scheduled 734 appointments on Monday night via phone calls.

CHAS is encouraging people to check online to confirm their appointment before they arrive at the Arena.

Appointments already booked ran a bit behind on Tuesday, as the new doses had to thaw to room temperature.

It is too early for CHAS to confirm when they will open up more appointments for vaccines at the Arena, but Charvet said she anticipates it will likely be around 5 p.m. on a day later this week or early next week.

The approximate 2,500 appointments booked on Monday night are for slots from Thursday to Sunday.

The Spokane Regional Health District confirmed 205 new cases of the virus on Tuesday, and no additional deaths.

There are 116 patients being treated for COVID-19 in Spokane County hospitals.