Joyce Goodwin was delighted to access the Internet on Sunday and discover that a Walgreens pharmacy near her home in Oregon had COVID-19 vaccination schedules available.
But when she went to schedule an appointment, the system did not allow her to complete the registration process.
Goodwin and other Oregon residents who tried to sign up for the COVID-19 vaccination through Walgreens in the past few days reported a flaw in the system that prevented them from making appointments.
Although Walgreens has shown many appointments for the first dose available in the Portland metropolitan area, the system requires people to apply for both the first and second doses at the same time. When people are going to schedule their second dose, however, they find none available.
“I was very pleased when I saw that Walgreens had several pharmacies with vaccines, but I was unable to schedule anything because of the second dose problem,” said Goodwin, 81. “I probably tried 10 times between yesterday and today.”
Walgreens was added last week to the list of Oregon pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccines to eligible Oregon citizens through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, joining Albertsons, Safeway, Costco and Health Mart. Walgreens pharmacies across Oregon received 8,190 starting doses of the COVID-19 vaccine last week through the program.
But flaws in the pharmacy’s scheduling system frustrated Oregon residents who tried to sign up for appointments through Walgreens. People in other parts of the country reported similar problems at Walgreens last week.
A corporate spokesman for Walgreens apologized for the flaws and said the company was working to resolve the issues.
“As we continue to scale our COVID-19 vaccination program and demand exceeds available stock, customers may experience temporary problems with our vaccination program, which may result in patients being unable to make an appointment,” said the spokesperson by email. “We are working to resolve problems as quickly as possible, often in less than an hour.”
The flaw was still preventing people on the Portland subway from scheduling appointments early Monday afternoon. At 4:00 pm, the pharmacy’s scheduling system did not list any more appointments available in Portland.
Oregon residents who have been able to schedule pharmacy appointments across the state in the past few weeks have reported positive experiences after experiencing difficulties trying to schedule appointments through the state’s vaccination scheduling website at mass vaccination sites like the Washington Convention Center. Oregon or Portland International Airport.
These issues prompted the state last week to begin requiring eligible Oregon citizens who wish to make appointments at the Oregon Convention Center to register their names in a registry. These Oregon residents will be notified when it is their turn to make an appointment, rather than having to compete online at fixed times each week.
But getting an appointment at a pharmacy was also not easy. Retail pharmacies only have about 100 doses available each week, and Walgreens’ failure demonstrates that the site’s problems aren’t limited to the state’s scheduling system.
Goodwin said he is waiting for an appointment at a local pharmacy because he has mobility problems and is not comfortable driving to the Oregon Convention Center to get a vaccine.
This left her with a series of frustrations. In addition to problems with the Walgreens website on Sundays and Mondays, Goodwin was unable to schedule an appointment through Albertsons, Safeway or Fred Meyer, each with very limited inventory.
– Jamie Goldberg | [email protected] | @jamiebgoldberg