The New York State coronavirus vaccine registration website struggled Sunday with long wait times and technology issues, as slots were open to people with certain underlying conditions.
Many users reported problems on social media Sunday morning when a large number of people flooded the State Department of Health’s “Fit Tool.” Problems seemed to get easier as the day progressed.
“The good news: the NY State website is updated with the option of underlying conditions for vaccine eligibility and new appointments have been added.” he tweeted Councilman Mark Levine, who chairs the council’s health committee.
“The bad news: the place is extremely complicated and crashes because of the volume,” Levine wrote.
“It’s not a good start to this new critical phase.”
A state DOH spokesman said the agency’s selection tool and scheduling site “worked very well,” averaging 350 appointments per minute as of Sunday afternoon.
As of 1 p.m., more than 876,000 people had used the “Tool I Am Eligible,” with more than 100,000 appointments reserved, the agency said.
“As expected, the site is experiencing a lot of volume after appointments were opened to New Yorkers with comorbidities and underlying conditions this morning,” DOH spokesman Gary Holmes said in a statement.
But the agency admitted that the number of people who can schedule appointments at once at each location is limited to balancing the system load caused by increased demand.
Once this number is reached, users are sent to the “online waiting rooms” that keep their site online, before being admitted to the scheduling system in order of arrival and classification.
If both the scheduling system and the waiting room were full, the DOH urged people to come back later and keep trying to book a slot, as new appointments are being rolled out throughout the day.
Some users reported waiting times of 20 to 40 minutes or other issues.
“The New York State website is a disaster,” one person said commented on Twitter. “I got it throughout the registration process and then declined after clicking Confirm.”
Another he wrote: “I waited on the @ virtual line for an hour, and then I didn’t have any appointments available.”
“This is BULLSHIT! The state has had months to achieve this. I’ve been trying it ALL DAY! (from before 8 in the morning) ” said one user. “It’s not nice and it’s not a joke. Fix it FIX! ”
Others asked for patience and suggested using a Chrome browser instead of Safari.
“I got a vaccine for my mother that has one of the underlying conditions. The place is messy, but I patiently hope that people can also get their appointment ”. someone tweeted.
Another dit: “I had to wait 25 minutes in a row using my phone’s browser, but I finally got an appointment.”
Even in the best of times, New Yorkers have long been controlled by the Byzantine network of state and city registration pages to get the shot.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo previously announced that New Yorkers with certain underlying conditions would be eligible for the vaccine starting Feb. 15.
The detection tool and state scheduling site were launched a day earlier to allow people to start searching and booking their appointments.
The new appointments will be released continuously over the coming weeks, the state said.
Starting next week, local health departments will begin receiving vaccine allocations for people with comorbidities.
People must prove that they are eligible by means of a medical letter, medical information proving comorbidity or a signed certification.
The list of conditions for eligibility is:
- Cancer (current or in remission, including cancers related to 11/11)
- Chronic kidney disease
- Lung disease, including, but not limited to, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), asthma (moderate to severe), pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, and 11/11-related lung disease
- Intellectual and developmental disabilities, including Down syndrome
- Heart conditions, including, but not limited to, heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, or hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Immunocompromised condition (weakened immune system), including, but not limited to, solid organ transplantation or blood or bone marrow transplantation, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids, use of other medications to weaken immunity or other causes
- Severe obesity (BMI> o = 40 kg / m2), obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 kg / m2 or higher, but less than 40 kg / m2)
- Pregnancy
- Sickle disease or thalassemia
- Type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus
- Cerebrovascular disease (affects blood vessels and blood supply to the brain)
- Neurological conditions that include, but are not limited to, Alzheimer’s disease or dementia
- Liver disease