Salt Lake County residents frustrated by problems with COVID-19 vaccine registration

The Salt Lake County Department of Health’s online registration for COVID-19 vaccines ran into major problems Wednesday morning, leaving older residents and their families frustrated and unhappy.

When the registry opened Wednesday, “tens of thousands of people attempted to simultaneously file the Salt Lake County Department of Health’s COVID vaccination registration form; it could not support that volume,” county officials wrote in a statement. . “After working quickly with the system programmer, the form was up and running and made reservations before 9 a.m.”

As of 10 a.m., 15,042 people had signed up for 30,000 slots, according to the statement. Salt Lake County has about 70,000 residents aged 70 years or older.

“That number of appointments is based on the number of doses we have been told we can expect to receive,” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said in the statement.

“We are grateful for your patience. The health department will continue to work with the system programmer to avoid any problems in the future, ”the statement said.

The delay bothered residents waiting for access to the vaccine.

“It’s been very problematic,” said Jen Kious, a Salt Lake City resident. “I have been waiting breathlessly to try to vaccinate my two 80-year-old parents. I woke up at 8 in the morning and it didn’t work. “

Kenneth Sperling said filling out most of the online form was “simple,” but “the problem is that when you get to the bottom and you go to register, it’s called“ Select Visit Date. ”There are no boxes. in the form for a visit date “.

“You get it all filled up, you click Submit and then you get stuck in cyberspace,” he said.

Kious ran into this same problem and others. He said he forgot to introduce his parents ’gender and that it was flagged, and when he tried to add it, all the information he had previously entered was deleted.

Kious said he has seen changes to the page while trying to register. “They’re clearly trying to fix it.”

In a later attempt to register, he said, the visitation date request appeared before the rest of the form, “but when we got to the end and registered, he gave an error statement that said : “Maximum number for this date. ‘ So obviously it had given us time that they were already full ”.

When he tried a different date, he received a message telling him that he had already registered. “So I don’t really know if I’m registered or not. …. I have the utmost respect for the public health department. They have worked very hard during this pandemic. I wouldn’t want to criticize them. But it’s very frustrating because I’ve been trying to protect my parents. “

Diane Orr said the process has been “unclear” for seniors trying to register. “I am 76 years old, but I have been trying to help people in their eighties. Everyone has tried to call this morning, but of course he is busy. “

He directed the seven octogenarians to the county website, but they have had the same problems. “People are confused. Fill out the form and then there is no information on where to go from here, ”said Orr. “I wish people, especially in this age group, wouldn’t be baffled by all this.”

Sperling said he was able to register successfully around 9:15 a.m.; Orr said he continued to have problems until noon.

John Keahey, a former Salt Lake Tribune employee, had similar problems. “When I finished the form, I would tell myself that the time I selected was not available,” he said. “I came back two or three times in response to ‘unavailable’ messages and when I selected the third one, the form disappeared. I don’t know if I’m registered or not. No indication.”

Keahey said he believes he was able to register on a later attempt shortly before 10 a.m., “but in the confusion, I didn’t register the date I finally chose to be accepted,” a problem that Kious also found. Keahey expects the county health department to send reminders by email.

• “Terrible planning for that. They should have known that thousands of people would want to register for the vaccine, but the form does not work and the phone number only gives a sign of employment.

• “I am old and have serious chronic heart disease. Do it better. “

• “Just praying worked.”

• “It’s a complete mess. He hoped Salt Lake County would be better prepared.

Vaccine scheduling appeared to be generally chaotic across the state as of Wednesday morning. The Weber-Morgan Department of Health website would not open at all.

The Bear River Department of Health website reported that its first clinic for patients age 70 and older is Jan. 14, ahead of the state’s announced Jan. 18 start date, but the clinic was full and the department had no plans to announce more vaccination dates on Wednesday.

The Utah County website reported that it would begin scheduling vaccinations for patients age 70 and older by 6 p.m. Wednesday, but below that announcement was a link to a vaccine clinic. of more than 70 which was already taking place on Wednesday, which was also full.

The Central Utah Department of Health posted a link to register for a vaccine, but it requires a registration code to continue and no registration code was immediately seen on the website.

The Southeast Utah Department of Health released a link to a vaccine scheduler, which said all appointments had been met as of Wednesday morning.

Both health departments in Tooele County and the Tri-County region of northeastern Utah directed users to the state’s general vaccine information page, which does not allow patients to schedule vaccines. The San Juan County Department of Health website, classified by Google as an expired safety certificate, was also linked to the state website.

Only in Wasatch County, which was scheduling appointments by phone, and in Summit County, which was scheduling by email, attempts to schedule the vaccine did not reach a dead end.

The Tribune will update this story in development.