The city was ready to administer 1,500 first and second doses of the coronavirus vaccine at a drive-thru and walk-up site in a parking garage adjacent to Pasadena City College. It would have been the city’s biggest vaccination effort to date.
City officials announced the cancellation on Tuesday because a record number of people who were not yet eligible for the admission used that link to book an appointment.
“Unfortunately, someone in the entertainment, production or media industry has shared it and it spread like wildfire to others,” said Lisa Derderian, the city’s public information officer.
“Within an hour we had more than 900 registrations. None of them qualified below this current level. They did not live or work in the city of Pasadena. Some had addresses more than an hour away,” she added.
The city says it doesn’t have enough staff to call all 900 ineligible people and decided to cancel the event instead.
Pasadena uses state registration software. Officials say it has been challenging to find a system that prevents cheaters from gaining access.
California officials explain how COVID-19 vaccine codes were shared and misused
They urge individuals not to share vaccine codes and links, as this has now resulted in vaccination delays for qualified adults.
“It takes away those who qualify and can’t move on now. These senior populations and the other workers need to be vaccinated so they can move forward and (for) more job openings in the next week,” said Derderian.
No new date has been set, but officials hope to reschedule very soon.
Attempts by people to “jump the line” and get the vaccine before they become eligible have been repeatedly disapproved of by state and local health officials, but the problem persists. Los Angeles County health officials have addressed issues of people supposedly being given secure registration codes to make appointments at vaccine clinics reserved for selected
groups of residents.
The issue was highlighted when Governor Gavin Newsom showed up at a public housing complex in the province where a vaccination clinic had been set up for low-income residents in the area, using a special appointment registration code. Many of the people who came to the clinic with appointments lived outside the area, but had managed to get the code, which prevented the actual residents from making appointments.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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