It May Be March Before Nashville Starts Vaccinating People 70 And Over

Updated Thurs., Feb. 4, 2020

Most Tennessee counties have now moved the cutoff down to 70. But Davidson County has thousands still waiting, with a total of 34,000 residents in the 75 and up category, outside of nursing homes.

Brian Todd, a spokesman for the Metro Public Health Department, says it’s difficult to predict when Nashville will be able to open vaccinations wider because so many have found other ways to get vaccinated.

“What we’re finding as we’re calling these folks is they’ve already received it from a different provider, so we take them off the list,” he says.

This week, Metro Health contacted 1,200 seniors on its waiting list and 40% had already gotten the vaccine another way.

Some Nashville seniors have even traveled to other counties where the waitlists are shorter, or put themselves on multiple waitlists. Others are getting vaccinated through one of the hospital systems, which are still using up their allotments.

Todd says Metro Health will likely wait until everyone 75 and up has an appointment scheduled before considering moving to younger seniors. As of now, the department is vaccinating 1,200 each weekend at the Music City Center.