COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – In recent days, people who are not yet eligible have tried to get their COVID-19 vaccine at the Schottenstein Center clinic run by the Ohio State University Medical Center (OSUWMC).

A couple of dozen ineligible people showed up Tuesday and a few ineligible young adults showed up Wednesday, according to Ryan Haley, Senior Director of Ambulatory Services for OSUWMC.

“That was not much of an issue early on when it was very straight forward with age. It’s turned into, I would say a mild issue here,” said Haley who is one of the co-leaders of the vaccination efforts at the Schottenstein Center.

Haley says the group on Wednesday said they had asthma. Asthma alone does not qualify someone for the vaccine. Roughly 2500 to 2700 people have been getting vaccinated at the Schottenstein center daily. Out of all those people, Haley estimates there have only been a few dozen ineligible people who have showed up. He says he’s doesn’t think it comes out of malice, but of misunderstanding.

“We’re in the business of assuming positive intent. There’s a lot of variables here and I think there’s maybe misinformation and people think oh since I was able to get through and scheduled, everything should be ok but essentially they’re attesting they meet the criteria so we’re double checking that,” said Haley. “To have a handful of these is understandable because the criteria has opened up.”

Haley says most ineligible people have been disappointed but understanding. They’re told when they will in fact be eligible.

“We’ll get to you really soon but be honest, be patient, we’re here to help, but the people in here don’t want to have the hard conversation,” he said.

While people do seem to be understanding, the situations still slow down the efforts to get vaccines into the arms of eligible people, according to Haley. It also puts those administering the vaccine in a tough spot.

“We don’t want to be bouncers. We’re in the medical industry, we’re here to assume positive intent,” he said. “We don’t want to make a mountain out of a mole hill here and continue to try to focus on this as an area of focus. We want to focus on getting vaccine into the arms of the people that need it that are eligible.”

The OSUWMC team at the Schottenstein Center will be giving its 100,000th COVID-19 vaccine on Friday.