Shellborn Porter woke up before dawn Wednesday without a vaccination appointment.
By 11 a.m., she was at Teachers Prep High School, getting an inoculation.
"It was difficult," Porter said. "I got it at about 5:30 a.m. this morning. Took me about, maybe quite a few days."
The city-run vaccine center opened for the first time Wednesday as part of an effort to increase the lagging vaccination rate in communities of color.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the focus of the location would be to vaccinate people living in Brownsville and East New York, especially home-health aides.
Still, some people with appointments who spoke to NY1, like Porter, said they live outside the community. Porter is from East Flatbush.
They simply called or logged into the city reservation system at just the right moment, soon after the time slots here apparently were entered into the city's database overnight.
"I'm a transplant patient and a dialysis patient and I live in a very crowded space," Porter said.
Abu Mostafa also had an overnight success. He also lives in another part of Brooklyn -- Kensington.
"I called a number last night at 3 O'clock [in the] morning and I got the appointment," Mostafa said.
After getting his shot, Mostafa said he'll go back to work behind the wheel of a cab.
Before the school opened, nearby residents who did not have appointments waited, under the mistaken belief that they could get a shot without booking a time.
They left confused and angry.
"How come there's no availability? This is so unfair. Very unfair and it's saddening because the community, this community was hit hardest with death," said Tanya Johnson, a Brownsville resident.
"Yes, it would be helpful to make the appointment here, but they're not doing it that way," said Cynthia Royster, another Brownsville resident.
With the launch of the vaccination center in Brooklyn, now the city moves onto Staten Island, opening one up on the north shore at the Empire Outlet Mall on Thursday.
That, too, will focus on the residents who live nearby.