MONROE COUNTY, Ill — Stretching for three miles on Thursday, 2,000 cars in Waterloo waited for the Monroe County Health Department's vaccination clinic.
One of those people in queue was Sutton Sauer and her parents.
"My parents have been self-isolating since March. It’s been really hard. We were very anxious and excited for them to get the vaccine," an emotional Sauer said.
What she thought was supposed to be a smooth ride, wasn't.
Sauer's parents are 87-and 85-years-old, so she wanted to help. She signed the duo up on Illinois Department of Public Health's website to get the shots.
"It gives you a list of appointments and sites available and Monroe County was on there," she explained.
Getting the green light, the St. Clair County family drove across county lines, thinking it was open to all Illinois residents.
"There was nothing on there about residency. You just needed proof of qualification or ID," Sauer said.
They had a QR code validating the appointment.
After waiting 60 minutes, Sauer says the QR code got them through the gate.
As they were about to get the shots, they got their ID's checked.
Sauer and her parents were told, "This is for Monroe County residents only."
Sauer was confused on why they were given a QR code and access to an appointment in the neighboring county.
"There is a vaccine in there reserved for them. It was on Illinois Department of Public Health's website. Nothing alarmed me. My parents were just crushed they couldn’t get the vaccine and I was crushed," she said.
But she's not the only one.
Monroe County's Health Department Administrator, John Wagner says, "We’ve turned quite a few away, even outside of Illinois and outside the state. People are driving, going long distance, to get this vaccine wherever they can."
Wagner said when it opened up its first clinic, it was open to all eligible Illinois residents.
But a week later, the state gave the department the choice to be selective.
"I think most county health departments, right now, with the big limited supply are restricting to county residents," Wagner said.
Wagner explains, department officials wanted to preserve vaccines due to lack of supply.
Six weeks ago, 100 doses were given to the department per week for the first three weeks.
Monroe County's population is under 36,000 people and lacks a hospital. Wagner says with limited supplies, they have to restrict.
"Now we're getting 400 doses a week. We have capability of doing 2,000 to 3,000 doses a day out there. Roughly it would take two to three years to go through the entire Monroe County population at this rate. The doses we get are allocated on the number of people in the county. We’re not making much of a dent in our population at all. If we could run our clinic 24/7, we could vaccinate all the people in Monroe County in under 10 days, if we only had vaccine," Wagner said.
He explains the decision making, "If we start giving doses that are allocated for people outside the county, we won’t have enough doses for people in Monroe County."
He says the supply chain needs to ramp up. Until then, he asks people to stay patient.
"Health departments are doing everything to get as many doses as they can, so is the state," Wagner said.
Sauer's parents must now wait until vaccines are available in their county or have access to another system open to all residents.
It's a sense of desperation on both ends.
From loved ones like Sauer to departments heads like Wagner. Both trying to navigate through this vaccine obstacle.
"Know that we are doing everything we can to get it out as fast as we can. If they supply us with vaccine, we would open it up to outside the area," Wagner said.
For Monroe County residents, the department has a Code Red System you can register through online here.
It's a call system to notify you when clinics will open again on the Monroe County Fairgrounds.