Letters to the Editor

Fry’s pharmacy delivered with vaccine

As an 84-year-old senior, I tried for hours to get an appointment with the Yuma County Public Health Department for a COVID vaccine, but had no success. I heard from a friend that Fry’s was giving the vaccine. Their website was easy to navigate and it was simple to set up an appointment.

The Fry’s pharmacy on 24th Street was very efficient, very friendly, and gave me my vaccine within minutes of my scheduled time. The pharmacist answered all my questions before I even asked. They promptly scheduled me for my second dose in 28 days. I’m disappointed in Public Health’s approach to distributing the COVID vaccine. But I’m very pleased with Fry’s approach.

RAYMOND HOPKINS Yuma

Nothing but praise for team who administered vaccine

I echo the complaints of many in securing an appointment this week to get my first vaccine dose at the Yuma County Public Health Department. But I was one of the lucky ones who did get an appointment via the website. I have nothing but praise for health department personnel, National Guard soldiers, and sheriff’s deputies who made the process go smoothly.

The website and phone system will get better and more vaccines will become available in the future.

Continue to wear masks, socially distance from others, and wash your hands frequently.

GEORGE BLACKWELL

Yuma

State should fire vaccine website designer

A friend of mine is a retired software engineer, and he couldn’t navigate the state’s vaccine portal to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination. I thought that I had, and learned after arriving at the vaccination site that I hadn’t.

The site told me that I had an appointment and even gave me directions to the site, but apparently, there was another button that I had to scroll down to and press to confirm the appointment. Including myself, I know four people who thought that they had reservations, only to learn upon arriving that we didn’t. I took HTML lessons 20 years ago and after the second lesson, I could have designed a better website than the patient portal that the Arizona Department of Health Services asks us to use to schedule vaccinations.

It’s appalling that the state of Arizona entrusted the design of this website to someone so unqualified. And sadly, whatever state employee was responsible for that website will face no consequences for his or her incompetence and neglect. That’s how government works, or in this case, doesn’t. He or she should be fired. But probably won’t even receive a letter of reprimand.

MICHAEL COSTELLO

Yuma

Agencies had time to work out vaccine system

The sign up for the COVIDd shot is a disaster. One lady at the county said they were ‘’overwhelmed.” I would suggest another word: “incompetent.” When did they find out about COVID-19 and the vaccine – last week? They have had many many months to work this out.

They need to back out of it all together and turn it over to private companies, pharmacies – they couldn’t do any worse. This is not a game – there are lives at stake. There’s an old saying, “You get what you pay for.” Well in this case, we are getting ripped off.

LAUREN HEITZMAN Yuma

Information delivery was flawed

Not much chance of getting an appointment for the coronavirus vaccine when the first you know about appointments becoming available is when you read about it in the paper the following day.

FRANK KEAVY Yuma

Idea to change vaccine registration process

The current appointment system for coronavirus vaccine is broken and fails miserably. On Jan. 19, I attempted to get an appointment for my wife who is in category 1B, age 75. I started the attempt at 1303 hours, and simultaneously tried the phone number 928-317-4687 and the health department website podvaccine.azdhs.gov. I was unable to successfully get through and schedule an appointment using either means.

First, the website finally did allow me to make a selection of a appointment slot for 1240 hours, Jan. 22, but when I clicked on the CONFIRM APPOINTMENT button, the system locked up and I could not do anything but start over.

I do not know if the appointment was actually made since I did not receive the confirmation email. I tried again and found all of the appointment slots were taken.

Second, the phone is a disaster. I got nothing but busy signals and at one point received messages that the phone number was no longer in service for about 45 minutes.

Finally, around 1515 hours, I received the recording stating that there were no more appointments. The military term to describe this mess starts with cluster.

Why not have folks register for an appointment in advance, and then have the computer assign the appointments based on the date of birth with the oldest folks first. This would avoid having the system overwhelmed and useless.

Thank you,

MIKE WHITLOCK Foothills

“.. I was one of the lucky ones who did get an appointment via the website. I have nothing but praise for health department personnel, National Guard soldiers, and sheriff ’s deputies who made the process go smoothly.”