Massachusetts public health officials apologized on Thursday night after the state’s COVID-19 vaccination consultation website crashed earlier in the day, when an increase in eligible new residents age 65 and older tried to make appointments. .
“The state’s website for locating and scheduling vaccine appointments has experienced delays and technical difficulties and the administration sincerely apologizes for the frustration and inconvenience that our residents have experienced throughout the day,” the state’s COVID-19 Command Center said in a statement. .
The delays occurred on the first day, residents aged 65 years and over, as well as those who had two or more chronic health conditions, became eligible to receive the vaccine.
Despite these difficulties, the Command Center said 60,000 appointments were still scheduled for the week at the state’s mass vaccination sites. Currently there is no availability for inoculation sites in Fenway, Gillette, Danvers, Natick, Dartmouth and Springfield.
The naming site provider Prep Mod also issued a statement saying it “deeply regretted” what happened in Massachusetts today and said it accepts full responsibility.
“Governor Baker, Secretary Sudders and the entire public health team entrusted us with the important duty of enrolling people in the Community for COVID-19 vaccinations,” said Mod Prep before apologizing for not meeting expectations.
Prep Mod said the system that controls the site has not been scaled fast enough to accommodate the increased volume of people trying to access the site. The site is now operating normally and the supplier said it “will work continuously to ensure that the system responds”.
The command center said the administration is testing the site to ensure that Mod Prep settings are adequate.
Although mass vaccination sites are scheduled for the week, a small number of appointments for other sites will be announced in the coming days, the command center said.
Approximately one million additional individuals in Massachusetts became eligible for the vaccine starting this morning. Since vaccination supplies are severely limited, the command center hopes it can still take at least a month for residents to make appointments.
Brittany Bowker can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @brittbowker.