New York City eligible seniors desperate to get the COVID-19 vaccine said on Friday they found no vacancies available and are fed up with the Big Apple’s complicated online application system.
Frank Rodgers, 71, of Staten Island, has tried several times to make an appointment for him and his wife, 66, to get the vaccine since they became eligible earlier this month, but continues to hit walls.
“We don’t have an appointment. We don’t know where to go, ”said Rodgers. “All of our possibilities to make an appointment for the vaccine – there are none.”
Rodgers, a security officer at a private company, said he tried to make an appointment at one of the city’s vaccine centers in the neighborhood.
“There was no availability,” he said. “Then it was February, then it was March and there was still no availability.”
In addition, Rodgers said the city’s online registration system makes the process even more difficult.
“I understand computers, but there are people my age who have no idea how to go online and make an appointment. All of these people are being left out, ”he said.
A 68-year-old Brooklyn resident said she “gave up” trying to get an interview with the vaccine as the city, as well as the state, is struggling with the scarcity of the coveted doses of the coronavirus.
“There is no availability,” said Park Slope’s wife, who declined to be identified.
The retiree expressed frustrations about the city’s vicious commitment registration system.
“Whoever planned the program should be shot,” she criticized, adding that vaccine candidates are forced to enter the same information whenever they try to make an appointment at one of the public or private vaccine locations listed on the website.
Less than two weeks ago, Alyssa Alaimo, 29, helped her grandparents from Staten Island, aged 82 and 75, who were having trouble navigating the city’s vaccination registration system.
“My nonna works on a computer and on Facebook and I couldn’t [the city] website, ”said Alaimo, noting that his grandparents thought the Big Apple system for signing up for a photo involved“ too many steps ”and was“ confusing ”.
“They asked me to set up meetings for them because they didn’t know how,” said Alaimo.
Alaimo’s grandparents finally got a difficult appointment to be vaccinated, but it was canceled due to a lack of vaccine supplies.
Frances Kraemer, 81, from Queens, got an appointment for the vaccine next month at Mount Sinai Hospital, but said she received an email advising her to “find other vaccination options” due to limited vaccine supplies.
“So it’s a little bit dubious now. I feel very insecure, ”she said. “I am very worried, anxious and worried.”
The city this week was forced to reschedule more than 22,000 first-dose vaccine appointments for the injection of two doses and to close its 15 vaccination centers in the five districts by Sunday because of a shortage of supplies.
Staten Island councilor Joe Borelli told the Post that his 68-year-old father, Alex, has also been having trouble getting an appointment for the vaccine.
“There are simply no vacancies and not even the option – ‘OK, we can take three weeks’ or whatever the case may be,” said Borelli. “You have to learn to manipulate the system, like when to call.”
Borelli added, “This shouldn’t be like trying to get tickets to a Yankee playoff game.”