Problems With Vaccine Appointment Site Causing Confusion, Frustration

PROVO, Utah – A huge demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has caused the Utah County Health Department’s website to crash several times, causing a lot of frustration and confusion among those over 70 trying to get appointments.

Health officials said they were trying to fix the problem.

It was obvious from the looks of the crowds at the health department in Provo Wednesday that there was no shortage of those age 70 and over who wanted the vaccine.

More than 1,500 of them walked through the doors to get their shots. They were the lucky ones to actually schedule an appointment.

Tens of thousands of others were not so lucky.

“I go on (the appointment site) at least a half of dozen times a day to see if there are any slots open,” said Barbara Morley.

She said she has been trying to get an appointment for her and her husband since last Wednesday when the website went live.

“Every one of (the appointments) said filled, filled, filled all the way down, and then last night the system crashed,” Morley said.

Anyone trying to get the #CovidVaccine in Utah County? Some frustration and confusion after system keeps crashing @KSL5TV 5&6:30 pic.twitter.com/vwSFCylfdq

— Dan Rascon (@TVDanRascon) January 20, 2021

Melissa Mungiguerra and her husband got so frustrated with the system that they just decided to show up in person, hoping to get their name on a list or something. 

No such luck.

“It’s frustrating, because you have these time frames you have to abide by and then it doesn’t work, and it’s day after day,” Mungiguerra told KSL TV. “It comes up and says the events are not loading, so you know the system is crashed.”

Aislynn Tolman-Hill with the Utah County Health Department said they were very aware of what is happening and the frustration people are experiencing. She said they are doing everything they can to fix the problem. 

Tolman-Hill there were more than 40,000 seniors trying to get in to only a few hundred spots and it’s just overloading the system.

She also said they were only able to schedule appointments for just one week because they don’t know how many doses they are getting until the first of each week.

“Be patient we will definitely get to you,” Tolman-Hill said. “I promise we are doing our absolute best. Most of us are hardly sleeping trying to make this work for you.”

Tolman-Hill said they shut the system down for two hours on Wednesday to try and do load maintenance so that the site can handle the demand.

“Everyone that wants a vaccine will get it. It may not be in the timeline you are hoping it will be,” said Tolman-Hill.

For those who did get on the schedule, the appointments were smooth sailing with very little wait time.

“It was good. We didn’t have to wait very long,” said Jain Bailey, who just got her shot.

“It feels very good. I’m dreading to have to make the appointment for the second shot in a month or two,” said Jain’s husband with a laugh.

To schedule an appointment go to health.utahcounty.gov.