A website designed to allow healthcare professionals to sign up for a consultation to receive the COVID-19 vaccine through Medical University of South Carolina has gone viral, allowing anyone in the general public with access to the link to make an appointment, regardless of your eligibility.
MUSC spokeswoman Heather Woolwine said the enrollment site was originally sent to external health care providers in the community, such as dentists, ophthalmologists and physiotherapists, to allow their employees to receive a vaccine at the hospital. Healthcare professionals are considered part of Phase 1A of the vaccine launch, giving them access to the vaccine before other high-risk groups.
Woolwine said the MUSC was relying on an honor system, trusting that these external health care providers would not forward the registration link to friends and family. But it happened inevitably. She did not know if anyone or how many people in the community who were not eligible for Phase 1A managed to obtain a vaccine through MUSC. But going forward, anyone with an appointment will be required to show proof of their health-related job, she said.
“The advantage of this is that these people want to receive the vaccine. This is a good thing. We want people to get the vaccine, ”said Woolwine. “The concern is supply and demand.”
This story is developing.
Reach Lauren Sausser at 843-937-5598.