WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Publix booked nearly 48,000 appointments for people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, despite reports that the scheduling website was not working properly.
The WPTV newsroom received dozens of phone calls and emails from people saying the ticker, which shows how many appointments are left in each Florida county, had been frozen for at least 20 minutes.
Maria Brous, Publix’s communications director, released this statement to WPTV at 10:15 AM:
“This morning we were able to schedule almost 48,000 vaccination appointments for next week. As people could see on the website, we had a short delay in the planning process.”
Earlier in the morning at 7:46 AM, Brous told our news team in an email, “The system works. Appointments are being booked.”
Brous said the next window for booking COVID-19 vaccine appointments at Publix will open at 7am on Wednesday, February 10.
Cathy Rethmeier put up multiple screens to help her neighbors and noticed something different on the Publix COVID-19 vaccine appointment site on Friday morning.
“There was a blue button that indicates, yes, we were still waiting. But we also noticed immediately that the counters were not counting down,” said Rethmeier.
And she was not alone.
Some said they were all done with choosing a date and time for the appointment, but the “Book now” tab was not working.
“We know it takes a lot of people and energy to make this all happen, we are very grateful. But there is certainly room for improvement and we are very hopeful. That’s why we will keep doing it,” said Rethmeier.
Publix continues to adjust its reservation system based on customer feedback. In case of a major change, the schedule button has been moved to the top of the appointment page instead of to the bottom.
In addition, Publix responded Friday to a WPTV report in which some 65 and elderly patients claimed they were rejected to be vaccinated at the grocery store for having been infected with COVID-19, but it had been less than 90 days since their first symptoms appeared.
Publix released this statement to WPTV:
“CDC guidelines were recently updated. We are consulting with our teams to ensure they have the most current information.
We can vaccinate patients who have had COVID in the past 90 days if they have not received the antibody treatment. If they were to receive antibody treatment, they should postpone vaccination and talk to their healthcare provider. “
Below the “Know Before You Go” section of Publix’s COVID-19 vaccine site, the company mentions the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guideline and says “It’s okay for an infected person to delay vaccination for 90 days after symptoms have cleared based on the low risk of reinfection during that period. “
To make an appointment with Publix, Click here.