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Minutes after going live on Monday morning, the Hillsborough County registration website for seniors hoping to receive the COVID-19 vaccine crashed, apparently due to the high volume of traffic.
The plan was for Hillsborough County residents aged 65 and over to start making an appointment to receive the much-needed vaccine on a county-run website that went live on Monday at 9 a.m.: hccovidshot.as .me. Distribution is still scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
But at 9:45 a.m. on Monday, the website was still not working. Instead, visitors only saw a blank page with the words “Internal service error 500”.
County officials said vaccination appointments can also be made by calling 888-755-2822. Telephone lines should be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday. However, the flood of phone calls to the line on Monday morning was also causing problems, with many reports of calls being dropped or simply receiving an endless busy signal.
Similar problems with blocked phone lines were reported in Pinellas County, which also opened its vaccine registration to the public on Monday. Residents of Pinellas County can contact the local health department office at 727-824-6900 or call their COVID-19 call center at 866-779-6121.
In response to comments on social media and phone calls from frustrated residents, Hillsborough County officials were only able to come up with the following “approved” statement:
“Due to the high demand, the external recording system and the telephone center are experiencing service interruptions. Please expect continued delays when attempting to book an appointment as work continues to mitigate technical issues. “
Hillsborough County, working with the local Florida Department of Health office, initially received just 1,500 doses of the Florida state coronavirus vaccine to distribute to residents. On Monday morning, however, the county announced that Tampa General Hospital has delivered an additional 3,000 doses of the vaccine for distribution to people 65 years of age and older.
With the surprise vaccinations from Tampa General and another scheduled shipment from the state’s health department, county officials said they hope 9,000 people will receive the first dose of the two-dose vaccine this week.
Vaccines will be administered at four locations across the county starting Wednesday, Jan.6, but appointments are required and there is no waiting list, the county said.
These locations are:
- University Mall (parking lot): 2200 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, FL 33612
- Vance Vogel Sports Complex: 13012 Bullfrog Creek Road, Gibsonton, FL 33534
- Strawberry Festival Fairgrounds: 2700 W. Risk St., Plant City, FL 33563
- Ed Radice Sports Complex: 14720 Ed Radice Drive, Tampa, FL 33626
This is a developing story. Stay on www.tampabay.com for more updates.
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