Shortly after Florida Department of Health officials relaunched the Broward County COVID-19 vaccination portal, the website appeared to be experience outages again and then displayed a message saying all appointments had been booked.
The portal is meant to allow residents ages 65 and older to schedule a time slot to receive the vaccine at no cost, either through a regular medical visit or at a drive-thru site.
After going live last week, however, all available appointments quickly booked out before the portal began experiencing intermittent outages. These problems have persisted despite health officials announcing Sunday that the portal was up and running again.
Despite the glitches, over 26,000 appointments had been made as of Monday morning.
“We are sorry that the registration system did not work as we intended," said Dr. Paula Thaqi, director of the Florida Department of Health in Broward, after the initial outage on Wednesday of last week. "We recognize that our Senior Community is anxious to receive the vaccine."
Appointments currently cannot be made by telephone. The department had been urging eligible senior citizens to check the portal often, as they said they are increasing the number of vaccination sites for seniors in coming weeks.
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“Please know that this is just the beginning of COVID-19 vaccination opportunities," Thaqi had noted on Wednesday. "As the local supply of vaccine increases, DOH-Broward along with our partners, are ready to vaccinate individuals ages 65 and older as well as additional priority groups as they are identified.”
