Despite the progress, it was many people’s frustration to make appointments for vaccinations. Appointment slots are filled within minutes of being available. States, local health departments and pharmacy chains have their own login sites that in many cases do not share data with each other. The CDC has its own vaccine administration system, or VAMS, which some states use to get people registered for vaccinations and to collect essential data, but government officials have complained that it is inconvenient.
Outraged people have taken matters into their own hands and created online navigator tools and Facebook groups for “vaccine hunters” in cities like Los Angeles and New Orleans to help people with available doses.
When the VaccineFinder portal launches this week, it will include a number of drugstores and grocery stores nationwide, as well as many other locations, such as mass vaccination sites, in Alaska, Indiana, Iowa and Tennessee.
Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the CDC, said the agency encourages vaccination sites to “provide accurate and up-to-date information on the location, hours and availability of vaccinations so that Americans can find vaccination sites more easily.”
Dr Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of Civil Servants and Public Health Officials, said: “I think people are optimistic and waiting for it.” He continued, “As with everything that rolls out in the midst of this pandemic, if there are mistakes, it can create a lot of confusion, but I think we just have to work it through.”
In the first weeks of vaccination, it was relatively easy to find doses, when qualified people – health workers and residents and staff at long-term care institutions – were vaccinated, especially where they lived or worked.
But states have since expanded their admission requirements to include older people, people with certain medical conditions and certain frontline workers. More venues have also been added to dispense vaccines, including stadiums and local pharmacies.