DETROIT (WXYZ) — If you wanted to try to get a walk-in appointment at Ford Field, there is a chance that can happen.
"We're always set up to take walk-ins, but it's not guaranteed if you do walk up that you will get a dose," said Kerry Ebersole of the Protect Michigan Commission. "That's why the best thing to do is to schedule that appointment."
John Thull probably had the best luck.
Thull needed a vaccine but wasn't expecting or even asking for it at Ford Field Monday when someone at the door asked if he wanted to get one. Thull was there just dropping off a friend, and he expressed just how simple, fast and painless the process was early Monday afternoon.
"I wasn't in here 25 minutes and I'm back out," he said.
Teddy Dorsette III had an appointment for Monday afternoon and he was thankful that Matthew Butler, an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter who was on site, was able to assist him through the process.
Dorsette is the communications manager and organizer for Detroit Disability Power, a nonprofit advocacy organization. And he's one of an estimated 810,000 Michiganders who are deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing, according to state officials.
Dorsette said he appreciates that a person is able to interpret for him at the vaccine clinic instead of having to look at a pre-produced video that doesn't respond to questions that can vary from person to person.
"Technology is a great thing, but it also comes with a host of problems as well," Dorsette told 7 Action News. "Having an interpreter live and in-person, to me, that is the best mode of communication. I have the opportunity to communicate back and forth, to really seek the information that I want, and to have that information clarified should I need it."
When scheduling an appointment, you can request an ASL interpreter to meet you when you arrive.
There are interpreters on-site at Ford Field for 130 different languages, according to Ebersole.