CAPE CORAL — A Cape Coral woman was lucky enough to get a vaccine appointment, but now, she wants to give it away.
Karen Sinness saw a story on Fox 4 over the weekend about 82-year-old Robert Chase, who still hasn’t had his shot. She said he needs it more than she does.
Sinness has an appointment at a CVS location in Fort Myers on Thursday to get a vaccine, but she’s only 61 and she’s healthy, while Chase is 82 and has Parkinson’s disease.
She said it’s more important that he get vaccinated, but we learned, it’s not that simple.
Sinness said, she got lucky last Friday and finally secured a COVID-19 vaccine appointment, but her excitement was short-lived, because the next day, she heard about Chase’s predicament on Fox-4.
“I saw the story on this gentleman, and I thought, you know what, this man needs it way more than I need it," said Sinness.
“I know that my time on earth is not that, I don’t know how much time I’ve got left," said Chase when we spoke with him on Saturday.
When we met up with him again Monday, he was surprised someone was reaching out to help.
“I’m just thankful that there are people out there like that who will do that," said Chase.
But it may not be as simple as just swapping shots. CVS tells us it can’t just change the name on the appointment.
Meanwhile, the eligibility for vaccines just expanded across the state to anyone over the age of 60. Chase said, that’s making it harder for people in his situation.
“Quite a few of them are in the same boat I’m in. Spent time in the service, yet they aren’t eligible for this stuff,” said Chase.
Meanwhile, Sinness learned she secured a second vaccine appointment through the school system she works for. So she has more reason than ever to want to give her CVS appointment to Chase.
"I’m going to cancel this appointment regardless. So this gentleman, if he can get it, it would just be so helpful," said Sinness.
While CVS said it can’t just swap the names on the appointment, the company said it is reaching out to Chase to try to get him signed up at a later date.
