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Riverside County is amending its website which makes appointments for coronavirus vaccination after numerous complaints from residents who said the site crashed or failed to schedule a shot once they filled out the forms online.
The announcement came hours after an appointment window, which started at noon on Thursday, January 21, closed after just 32 minutes for six county-run clinics scheduled for the next few days in Perris, Lake Elsinore and Indio. Almost 4,000 appointments have been made, one for each dose of vaccine available. Last week, more than 11,000 appointments were complete in less than two hours on Friday January 15th.
A new link to the website will be announced shortly, county officials said Thursday afternoon in a press release.
For many, it was difficult to connect to the county site. They took to social media and emails to report website outages and said they filled out forms only to find no appointments were available.
“It was like trying to buy gig tickets with the site down, constantly reloading, and then finally just going in to fill in all my information to know that all the appointments were made,” wrote Kathleen Orr, 49 years. Riverside resident and grade 8 teacher at the college, who tried to get a noon date.
She added: “I don’t know of a teacher who was able to get an appointment today when the new sites opened.”
Gary Dailey, a 69-year-old man by the river, requested an appointment through the county website and also through the Albertsons Pharmacy.
“Love the way the (county) website is set up, if you have the chance to continue,” he said sarcastically via email. “I love filling out the forms over and over until I get to the very end where I actually make an appointment only to find out that there aren’t any, or better yet, that the website is locked and you have to start all over again. “
In the statement, county officials blamed “a technical glitch in the website code (which) was discovered at the time,” the appointment window opened.
“Unfortunately, when many residents attempted to visit the appointments website, they saw a timeout screen,” the statement said.
“Residents are understandably frustrated that the date website didn’t work today,” Juan C. Perez, acting county general manager, said in the statement. “Although we worked with our vendor to make sure it would be up and running today, unfortunately it wasn’t. Frankly, this is unacceptable. We apologize for this unfortunate situation and will be directing residents to a new website soon. “
Riverside County officials also reminded residents that there are other options beyond the county, such as doctors, pharmacies and emergency care clinics, but stressed demand for vaccines exceeds the offer.
In an email to a voter, Jeff Greene, chief of staff to Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, wrote that part of the problem lay in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement that counties could start offering the vaccine for those 65 and over – enough vaccine to meet this need.
“The previous plan with levels and phases had its own frustrations and confusions, but it was at least designed to make small groups eligible at once, so that the system didn’t get overwhelmed,” Greene wrote.
“This week we only had 3,900 total doses available for the county, and those appointments were gone within half an hour (Thursday) with the system going down completely for most / most / all. Unsuccessful applicants … The county purchased significant additional bandwidth capacity for this week, but the website provider apparently had other issues that contributed to the site’s collapse. “
Another problem, Greene wrote, is the state website used to complete the registration.
“Our own website just directs people to the state-operated CALVAX.org system,” he wrote. “And not only does their platform crash regularly, but they are also responsible for the very frustrating process of telling you that there is no space available until you submit all of your information, unlike a private sector ticketing site that contains your seat while you complete the form.
Riverside County has no control over this, and other counties are experiencing the same problem, he said.
San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert said users of that county’s vaccination website were having trouble clicking a link that took them to the state website to fill out the necessary information. to make an appointment. Often, users fill out personal information pages, only to find that no appointments are available, he said.
The county is so frustrated, Wert added, that it plans to create its own online appointment booking system, even if it would take a lot of time and money.
Riverside County officials also said that when Appointments open on their new website, it will still be linked to the state’s vaccine registration portal. If all appointments are made during state registration, residents will not be able to schedule a time, the release said.
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