Riverside County is changing its website that books coronavirus vaccination appointments after scores of complaints from residents who said the site crashed or failed to schedule a shot once they filled out online forms.
The announcement came hours after an appointment window, which started at noon Thursday, Jan. 21, closed after just 32 minutes for six county-run clinics scheduled for the next few days in Perris, Lake Elsinore and Indio. Almost 4,000 appointments were booked, one for each available vaccine dose. Last week, more than 11,000 appointments were full in less than two hours Friday, Jan. 15.
A new website link will be announced soon, county officials said late Thursday afternoon in a news release.
For many, it has been a struggle just to log onto the county site. They took to social media and email to report website crashes and reported filling out forms only to find out no appointments were available.
“It was like trying to buy concert tickets with the site crashing, constantly reloading, and then finally getting in only to fill out all of my information to find out all the appointments were taken,” wrote Kathleen Orr, a 49-year-old Riverside resident and 8th grade middle school teacher, who tried getting an appointment at noon.
She added: “I don’t know of one teacher who was successful in getting an appointment today when the new sites opened up.”
Gary Dailey, a 69-year-old Riverside man, sought an appointment via the county website and also through Albertsons pharmacy.
“I just love how the (county) website is set up, if you are lucky enough to get on,” he said sarcastically via email. “I love repeatedly filling out the forms until I get to the very end where I actually make the appointment only to find out there are none, or better yet, the website vapor locks and you have to start all over from the beginning.”
In the release, county officials blamed “a technical issue in the website code (that) was uncovered at the time” the appointment window opened.
“Unfortunately, when many residents attempted to visit the appointment website, they saw a timeout screen,” the release states.
“Residents are understandably frustrated that the appointment website did not perform today,” Interim County Executive Officer Juan C. Perez said in the release. “While we worked with our vendor to ensure it would be operational today, unfortunately, it was not. Frankly, that’s unacceptable. We apologize for this unfortunate situation and will soon direct residents to a new website.”
Riverside County officials have also reminded residents that there are other options beyond the county, such as doctors, pharmacies and urgent-care clinics but stressed that the demand for shots exceeds the supply.
In an email to a constituent, Jeff Greene, chief of staff to Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, wrote that part of the problem was Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement that counties could start offering the vaccine to those 65 and older — “we have nowhere near sufficient vaccine supplies to fill that need.”
“The previous plan with tiers and phases had its own frustrations and confusions, but it had at least been designed to make smaller groups eligible at once, so the system wouldn’t be overwhelmed,” Greene wrote.
“This week, we only had 3,900 doses total available to the county, and those appointments disappeared within a half hour (Thursday), with the system completely crashing for many/most/all of the unsuccessful applicants … The county bought significant extra bandwidth capacity for this week, but the website vendor apparently had other problems that contributed to the crashing of the site.”
Another issue, Greene wrote, is the state website used to complete the registration.
“Our own website is simply directing people to the CALVAX.org system operated by the state,” he wrote. “And not only has their platform been crashing regularly, but they are also responsible for the very frustrating process that doesn’t tell you there is no space available until after you’ve submitted all your information, unlike a private sector ticket site that holds your spot while you fill in the form.
Riverside County has no control over that, and other counties are seeing the same problem, he said.
San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert said users of that county’s vaccination website run into problems when clicking a link that takes them to the state website to fill out information to book an appointment. Often, users fill out pages of personal information, only to find there are no appointments available, he said.
The county is so frustrated, Wert added, that it’s considering creating its own online appointment booking system, though that would take a considerable amount of time and money.
Riverside County officials also said that when appointments open on their new website, it will still link to the state’s vaccine registration portal. If all appointments are booked when completing the state’s registration, residents won’t be able to schedule a time, the release stated.