WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – Publix scheduled nearly 48,000 consultations on Friday for people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, despite reports that the scheduling website is not working properly.
The WPTV newsroom received dozens of calls and emails from people who said the ticker, which shows how many appointments are left in each Florida county, has been frozen for at least 20 minutes.
Maria Brous, Director of Communications at Publix, released this statement to WPTV at 10:15 am:
“This morning we were able to schedule about 48,000 vaccination appointments for the next week. As you can see on the website, we had a brief delay in the scheduling process ”.
Early in the morning, at 7:46 am, Brous told our news team via email that “The system is working. Appointments are being made.”
Brous said the next window for scheduling COVID-19 vaccine appointments at Publix will open on Wednesday, February 10 at 7 am.
Setting up multiple screens to help her neighbors, Cathy Rethmeier noticed something different about the location of the Publix COVID-19 vaccine appointment on Friday morning.
“There was a blue button indicating, yes, we were still waiting. But we also noticed immediately that the counters were not counting down,” said Rethmeier.
And she was not the only one.
Some said they chose a date and time for the appointment, but the “Book Now” tab didn’t work.
“We know that it takes a lot of people and energy to make everything happen, we are very grateful. But there is definitely room for improvement and we are very hopeful. That is why we continue to do this,” said Rethmeier.
Publix continues to make adjustments to its booking system based on customer feedback. In an important change, the scheduling button was moved to the top of the appointment page instead of to the bottom.
In addition, Publix on Friday responded to a WPTV report in which some Patients aged 65 and over claimed they did not receive the vaccine at the supermarket because they had been infected with COVID-19, but it had not yet been 90 days since the onset of the initial symptoms.
Publix released this statement to WPTV:
“The CDC guidance has been updated recently. We are communicating with our teams to ensure that they have the latest information.
We can vaccinate patients who have had COVID in the past 90 days, if they have not received antibody treatment. If they received antibody treatment, they would have to postpone vaccination and speak to their doctor. “
Under “Know Before You Go” section from Publix’s COVID-19 vaccine website, the company lists the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, saying that “it’s okay for an infected person to postpone the vaccine for 90 days after symptoms have resolved based on in the low risk of reinfection during that period. “
To make an appointment with Publix, Click here.