The New York state coronavirus vaccine sign-up website struggled with long wait times and technical issues on Sunday as slots opened for people with certain underlying conditions.
Many users reported the problems on social media Sunday morning when a mass of people flooded the State Department of Health’s Am I Eligible Tool. The problems seemed to diminish as the day went on.
“The good news: The NY State website has been updated to include the underlying conditions option to qualify for the vaccine, and new agreements have been added,” tweeted Alderman Mark Levine, who chairs the council’s health committee.
“The bad news: the site is extremely glitchy and crashes due to the volume,” Levine wrote.
“Not a good start to this crucial new phase.”
A DOH state spokesperson claimed that the agency’s screening tool and scheduling site were “working extremely well,” with an average of 350 booked appointments per minute as of Sunday afternoon.
As of 1:00 pm, more than 876,000 people had used the “Am I Eligible Tool,” with more than 100,000 appointments booked, the agency said.
“As expected, the site is experiencing a tremendous amount of volume after appointments were made this morning for New Yorkers with co-morbidities and underlying conditions,” DOH spokesman Gary Holmes said in a statement.
But the agency admitted that the number of people who can schedule appointments at each location at the same time is limited to offset the load on the system due to increased demand.
Once that number is reached, users are sent to “online waiting rooms” that keep their seats in line before being admitted to the scheduling system on a first come, first served basis.
Should both the scheduling system and waiting room be full, the DOH urged people to come back later and keep trying to book a slot, as new appointments roll out throughout the day.
Some users reported waiting times of between 20 and 40 minutes or other failures.
“The New York State website is a disaster,” said one commented on Twitter“I signed up completely and then got thrown away after clicking Confirm.”
Another wroteTo: “Waited an hour in ‘virtual line @’ and then got ‘no appointments available’.”
“This is BULLSHIT! The state has had months to get this done. I’ve been trying all day! (since before 8am), ” one user said“This is neither cute nor joke. Get it fixed! “
Others insisted on patience and suggested using a Chrome browser instead of Safari.
‘I got a vaccine for my mother, who has one of the underlying conditions. The site is messy, but with patience I hope people can get their appointments too! ” someone tweeted
Another said: “I had to wait in line for 25 minutes with my phone browser, but finally got an appointment.”
Even at the best of times, New Yorkers have long complained about the Byzantine network of state and city sign-up pages to take the picture.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo previously announced that New Yorkers with certain underlying conditions would be eligible for the vaccine starting Feb. 15.
The state’s screening tool and scheduling site launched a day earlier so people can search and book their appointments.
New appointments will be released on a rolling basis in the coming weeks, the state said.
Starting next week, local health departments will receive vaccine assignments intended for people with comorbidities.
People must prove their eligibility by means of a doctor’s letter, medical information showing co-morbidity, or a signed statement.
The list of eligibility conditions is:
- Cancer (current or in remission, including 9/11-related cancers)
- Chronic kidney disease
- Lung disease, including, but not limited to, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), asthma (moderate to severe), pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, and 9/11 related lung diseases
- Intellectual and developmental disorders, including Down syndrome
- Heart conditions, including but not limited to heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, or hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) including but not limited to solid organ transplant or blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, corticosteroid use, use of other immune-weakening drugs, or other causes
- Seriously overweight (BMI> or = 40 kg / m22), obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 kg / m2 or higher but <40 kg / m2
- Pregnancy
- Sickle cell disease or thalassemia
- Diabetes mellitus type 1 or 2
- Cerebrovascular disease (affects blood vessels and blood supply to the brain)
- Neurological disorders including but not limited to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia
- Liver disease