Around 2 pm Tuesday, people who called the Hillsborough County coronavirus vaccine hotline were told that the local health department had run out of appointments for available doses.
A few hours earlier, Pinellas County health officials made a similar announcement, saying “we have programmed our existing vaccine stocks”. The Pinellas Department of Health posted on Twitter that new appointments will be available as soon as you receive more doses.
Both counties were scheduling appointments for people aged 65 and over just over the phone early Tuesday, the day after their online registration portals broke. Terminating the phone call was also a challenge, with the numbers constantly busy, the calls ended abruptly, or the service completely interrupted.
Callers reported having made dozens, even hundreds of attempts in both counties, but to no avail.
Pinellas County Commission Chairman Pat Gerard posted a Facebook post on Tuesday, asking residents to be patient. Pinellas County has almost 250,000 residents aged 65 and over, she wrote, and the Pinellas County Health Department received a shipment of 3,000 doses on Monday.
“The vast majority of the elderly want the vaccine, and they want it now, but the funds we are receiving from the state are totally inadequate,” she wrote. “If you can wait, please do it.”
“What we’ve seen is an unprecedented demand and interest for this vaccine, and it’s nice to know that our citizens are ready for the vaccine,” said Tim Dudley, Hillsborough County’s director of emergency management. ”We saw about 2,000 calls a minute trying to get through those lines.
The Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County expects to offer additional consultations next week, according to a press release on Tuesday.
The department will distribute 9,000 doses of vaccines to residents age 65 and older from Wednesday to Saturday this week, according to the note, and residents should visit HCFLGov.net/vaccine for updates.
Due to problems with the website, the county telephone bank remained open for another two hours on Monday and planned to do the same on Tuesday.
Hillsborough County officials said they expect a second batch of vaccines to arrive this week from the state health department, but the number of doses is unknown. The COVID-19 vaccination requires two injections, Dudley said, and everyone who receives the first dose this week will leave with an appointment for the final vaccination.
“We just ask everyone to be patient,” said Duda. “We want to make sure that we don’t leave any compromises on the table and we will do everything in our power to ensure that we offer an opportunity for those who meet the criteria to achieve a compromise.”
Dudley said he did not know whether the county would continue to work with the site’s developer, Acuity Scheduling. The sheer volume caused the site to crash almost as soon as it went live on Monday.
According to the US Census Bureau, about 14.5% of the nearly 1.5 million people who live in Hillsborough County are 65 or older. This age group represents about 25% of the population of Pinellas County and 22.6% of the population of Pasco County.
Hundreds of people are sending emails to the Florida Department of Health in Pasco County, and team members were overwhelmed with calls on Tuesday, said Melissa Watts, a department spokeswoman. Pasco continued to offer only online vaccine registration. Residents are frustrated at how quickly the online appointment slots go, as large groups of people try to register at the same time, she said.
Many residents are calling with questions about making appointments online, she said. Watts posted an online page on Tuesday with answers to residents’ questions.
“We are trying to find ways to help people where they don’t have to wait that long,” said Watts.
In Hernando County, telephone lines remained busy on Tuesday at the local health department with residents asking about consultations, said Ashley Thomas, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health in Hernando County. Appointments were made over the phone, but the department was full on Tuesday.
The department started vaccinations at 8 am on Monday, as scheduled, she said. Residents can call 352-540-6800 or visit http://hernando.floridahealth.gov for more information.
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