The news began spreading Friday on social media and in personal messages and conversations: The state of Utah allegedly had trouble meeting appointments for COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines may be missed.
So thousands of Utahns went into the new system at vaccinate.utah.gov. The state acknowledges that due to an error by the state department of technology services, the website allowed them to schedule appointments, despite not having specific health conditions or being old enough to meet current criteria.
So even though the faulty website made these Utahs believe that there were empty spaces and wider access, they didn’t, and now they have already canceled their appointments or 7,200 people have been canceled, and some face attacks on social media.
“I’m not a vaccine chaser,” said Kristin Fredrickson, 35, of Salt Lake City. “People report me for signing up for a vaccine. That didn’t happen at all. “
She and several people told the same story – they knew the vaccines weren’t being used and the appointments weren’t being met, so they went to the website to register.
“That’s what drove us to do it,” said Dustin Wolters, 38, of Riverton. “I thought, if they don’t use it and the vaccines will be wasted, I don’t want to put that aside.”
[Read more: A flawed design by state employees allowed 7,200 unqualified Utahs to sign up for COVID-19 vaccine, officials say]
He heard it from a friend who heard it from an uncle, who is a doctor. Julie Bartel heard it from a friend who is a professor at the University of Utah. A circulating social media post cited an emergency doctor in the U.S.; a spokeswoman said Monday the U. is studying this tweet.
“The appointments were made in 100% good faith,” Bartel said. “No one was trying to jump the line, but make sure the shots weren’t left unused, which didn’t seem unrealistic given the news about the percentage of Utahns who would probably choose to complete the vaccination.”
Gov. Spencer Cox had said last week that “starting in April and May, our biggest concern will be hesitation, such as how we can convince people to get this vaccine because we have a lot of it.”
Wolters tried to call the county health department to verify the information he had heard, he said, but there were more than 50 calls waiting in front of him. “And without being able to do that, we didn’t want to pass up our opportunity.”
And he also thought that the story of the appointments that were not scheduled seemed plausible.
“I know people who have received a vaccine in person because of the circumstances in which people did not show up for appointments,” he said. “So it seemed like there was a basis of truth in the story we had heard.”
And when he answered all the questions truthfully and was still allowed to sign up for an appointment, he said he seemed to confirm that what he had been told about the unused vaccine doses was true.
“I thought this was legitimate,” Fredrickson agreed. “Suppose a government website is programmed correctly. It shouldn’t let you register if it’s not right.”
And they are especially frustrated that they are cheaters or line jumpers. There is a “strong hint that all of us who responded truthfully and signed up in good faith intentionally had done something wrong,” Bartel said.
“It was really annoying,” Fredrickson said. “Because we have followed all the guidelines. We stayed home. We haven’t seen a family in over a year. We didn’t go to Christmas. I haven’t seen my mother. I haven’t seen my father. We missed our weddings. We missed our birthdays. “
They feel guilty about public opinion, without proper apology or response from government officials. On Friday night, Salt Lake County employees and state technicians were aware there was a problem.
Salt Lake County social media is pushing to clarify that eligibility for the vaccine had not changed until noon Saturday and initially did not refer to or explain the website error that allowed unqualified residents to make appointments.
The Utah Department of Health issued a statement after 6 p.m. Saturday explaining that there was an error at the site.
“The government / health department response has been daunting,” Bartel said. “It’s just an apology for the inconvenience and the overwhelming disappointment of canceling appointments. No real explanation of how or why this happened.
“Hearing my sister-in-law cry tears of relief that her eldest daughter from high school (forced to go back to school four days a week from this week) had a vaccination appointment was a moment I will not forget knowing that the appointment was canceled 24 hours later. “
Brenda Wiebe, 35, of Salt Lake City, said believing she had an appointment just to cancel it was “incredibly disappointing. For a brief moment, I could see the end of the tunnel. A place where selfish people who don’t wear masks in grocery stores and the elevator in my building no longer put my life in danger because I would be protected.
Wolters and his wife, Tristen, are 38 years old and have no pre-existing conditions. They are caring for an elderly family member who has been diagnosed with cancer, “so we thought,‘ If we can get it, we can reduce the risk of exposing it, ’” Wolters said.
They don’t get angry because they still have to wait their turn, but they are frustrated to think that they had registered correctly just to cancel the appointments.
“If there are people who need it more than us, I understand,” he said. “We don’t want to catch them.”
This is another common saying among those who thought they were taking legitimate appointments just to cancel them. “I don’t want to get vaccinated before it’s my right,” said Jason Black, 45, of Salt Lake City. “Let teachers, front-line workers and seniors, etc. get the first ones, but what a disappointment.”