With online registrations widely available only from individual providers, some seniors and their loved ones rushed to apply for vacancies that start on Monday. They updated web pages, tested all links and waited for hours, often without success. They described outdated information pages and problematic websites that put them on hold for half an hour or more, just to say that no hours were open.
Governor Charlie Baker asked for patience Wednesday, saying consultations will be available when vaccine supplies arrive. He said people should continue to check for vacancies and encouraged relatives and friends to help older people who may need help with the online process.
“It will require a certain amount of patience for people to understand that it may take several visits to the site before they can get an appointment,” said Baker. “Unless there is a major shift in the federal distribution on this, we hope to end up with more capacity than we have vaccine to serve, which will limit the number of consultations that can be made.”
Baker said the state is working to create “additional resources” to help people make appointments and that the administration is “working with other public and private organizations” that support the elderly.
Baker said he understands that the scarcity of openings is frustrating, but said the Biden government told state officials this week that more doses should arrive soon. Even with the general scarcity hampering the distribution of the vaccine in the state, state officials recognized this week that hundreds of thousands of doses were on the shelves of hospital and pharmacy store freezers. The disclosure highlighted the logistical difficulties in matching supply to demand.
“Obviously, we are pleased to know that this information comes from the federal government,” said Baker. “We have not yet received specific details about the actual size of the increase or the delivery schedule. . . but in the meantime, we will plan ahead assuming that our new locations will be able to deliver more than 300,000 doses per week by mid-February. “
As the state’s COVID-19 death toll exceeded 14,000, seniors rushed to get the vaccine on Wednesday. Nearly 10,000 consultations were made at the Springfield and Danvers mass vaccination sites on Wednesday, according to a spokeswoman for the state’s COVID-19 command center. In the afternoon, only a handful remained, she said. On Thursday, another 20,000 appointments will be available at Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park, she said.
On the state’s website, the lack of availability dragged on into the afternoon, as pharmacies, health clinics and larger sites sent messages that there were no appointments. The South Boston Community Health Center posted on its website that “all appointments are currently full”. The Mercy Medical Center in Springfield said it was “handling a high volume of requests” and was not accepting requests for consultations.
In Framingham, Chasan and his wife tried two nearby locations without success. They found vacancies in Springfield, but decided it was too far. They waited in a virtual queue for an appointment at a supermarket in Waltham, but 45 minutes later the market website said there were none available.
As his frustration grew, he contacted several elected officials, including State Representative Maria Robinson. Robinson sent him a registration link to the DoubleTree Hotel in Danvers, where schedules were available. But Chasan, who described himself as “quite computer savvy,” said he needed to upload photos of his driver’s license and insurance card to register, a process he described as a “nightmare”.
“How many seniors can send a photo?” Chasan said. “You can probably count the number in one hand. How many elderly people have cell phones? “
Robinson, who represents Framingham, wrote on Twitter that his inbox was full of messages from constituents who failed to make appointments. Some were traveling to Connecticut, she said.
State Sen. Harriet Chandler said on Twitter that her office had heard dozens of “frustrated constituents”.
“And I hope it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” wrote Chandler. “We are doing our best to help, but this site is simply ineffective.”
Susan Holcombe, 80, was awake at midnight researching vaccination sites on Cape Cod and even Worcester. Some sites immediately indicated that the appointments were not available, but on others, she spent time entering information before she knew she would not be able to make an appointment. Holcombe, who lives in Pocasset, said he waited an hour for a stop at a Stop & Shop in Hyannis only to find that there were no more appointments.
At least one pharmacy – CVS – made appointments available at midnight, but they filled up at a rapid pace. When all locations – Fall River, Greenfield, Hanover, Revere, Newton, Salem, South Yarmouth and Wayland – were checked for availability at 1 am, all times at all pharmacies were full.
Among the stories of frustration, some got the vacancies they expected. Shortly after midnight, Syracuse University student Ghael Fobes got appointments for his grandparents in Shelburne on a CVS, keeping four computer guides open in case he had a problem.
“I booked tickets for Shawn Mendes that were more difficult to get,” he said.
Laura Krantz, of the Globe team, contributed to this report.
Amanda Kaufman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @ amandakauf1. Shannon Larson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @ shannonlarson98. Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.