Tips on getting an appointment
Jammed phone systems. Crashed websites. Canceled time slots. Confusion about who qualifies.
There’s no argument that the state’s vaccine appointment system has baffled and embittered thousands of Floridians who are desperate for relief from the risk of COVID-19 and almost a year of quarantine.
It doesn’t help that the majority seeking appointments are older people who may be unfamiliar with the computer tricks that can help them find a slot in the confounding appointment network.
Here are some tips from volunteers who have helped seniors find time slots and others who have spent hours assisting family members and friends. To sum up their advice: Be persistent, and find a computer-savvy friend or relative to help if needed.
1. Get on email and Twitter lists to learn when an agency announces a new vaccine shipment. Sometimes they only give 15 minutes notice of a chance to register. On Twitter, these include @FLHealthBroward, @HealthyFLPBC, @MiamiDadeCounty and @DelrayBeach Fire.
2. Get familiar with each site’s web page and the questions that will be asked. According to Mayde Wiener of Highland Beach, who has made 24 appointments for local residents, having this information ready will speed up your registration process. For example, Jackson Health System in Miami wants first and last name, race and ethnicity, date of birth (in four-digit format for the year), zip code, email address and phone number. Publix seeks that information as well as full address, emergency contacts and Medicare numbers.
Also, make sure you have a short email address as part of your contact information. “A long email address loses time,” Wiener said, and time is of the essence as you are competing with thousands of others seeking an appointment at the same moment.
3. Keep refreshing the page (usually the circular arrow in the upper left) as you wait. This updates the page display if the site moves you into a waiting room as the deluge of requests is processed. And keep several windows open on your computer, with a variety of web browser engines, such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer.
“If you are in a ‘waiting room situation,’ refresh your browser frequently to see if an opportunity to make an appointment opens up,” said Lynn Lubell of Boca Raton, who has made appointments for about 10 friends and family members. “I’ve had seven browser windows open at once. I’ll let two stay as they are and keep refreshing the others, just to see what will work.”
4. Work from as many devices as possible. Use your computer, your phone and your iPad, and enlist relatives, even if they live in other states. Good Internet also helps, said Jennifer Greenwald of Delray Beach, who has made more than 200 appointments as a volunteer.
5. Be willing to go anywhere, even if the appointment is not in your county. Many have traveled from Palm Beach County to the Hard Rock Stadium vaccination site in Miami Gardens or to Indian River County to the north, more than an hour away.
6. If the website offers a choice of times, choose the latest slot available. “The earliest times are always booked first,” said volunteer Michele Novick of Boca Raton, who has logged appointments for 50 people over the past week. “If the appointment you choose is no longer available, you have to start over.”
7. Don’t give up on the Hard Rock and Marlins Park shared phone line, at 786-6295752. “The recording will say there’s nothing available, but you should keep calling back,” Novick said. “If you get placed on hold, keep holding for a live person.”
8. Join the Facebook group, ”South Florida COVID-19 Vaccination Info.” Not only are people posting their questions and experiences all day long, the site has 100 volunteers who are making appointments for people who lack a computer or have had trouble finding their way through the system. If you don’t have a Facebook account, ask a friend or a grandchild to join the group on your behalf to monitor local vaccine distribution.
9. Accept calls from numbers you’re not familiar with, even if they say “SPAM.” It could be a vaccination call center calling you with an appointment you applied for weeks ago. “Now is not the time to not answer phone calls from numbers you don’t know,” said Katherine Quirk of Parkland, who has made more than 50 appointments as a volunteer and co-founder of the Vaccination Info Facebook group (see above).
10. Sun Sentinel reporters have been all over this vaccine frustration story.
■ I write a daily column answering people’s questions about the vaccine.
■ Join our Facebook group South Florida COVID-19 and Public Crisis Support, where we share news and the public offers tips and comments.
■ You can sign up for breaking news alerts at interactive.sun-sentinel.com/newsletter/signup/breaking-news/.
■ Read all of our COVID-19 coverage at SunSentinel.com/coronavirus