Eligible seniors in New York City desperate to get the COVID-19 vaccine said Friday they have not found any available slots and are fed up with the Big Apple’s intricate online sign-up system.
Frank Rodgers (71) of Staten Island has repeatedly tried to make an appointment with him and his wife (66) to get the vaccine since they were eligible earlier this month, but is still walking into the wall.
“We do not have an appointment. We don’t know where to go, “said Rodgers. “All our ways to make an appointment for the vaccine are not there.”
Rodgers, a security officer from a private company, said he was trying to make an appointment with one of the city’s vaccines in the city.
“There was no availability,” he said. “Then it went until February, then to March and there was still no availability.”
In addition, Rodgers said the city’s online registration system makes the process even more difficult.
‘I’m computer literate, but there are people my age who have no idea about going online and making an appointment. “All these people are left out of account,” he said.
One 68-year-old Brooklyn resident said she “gave up” to get a vaccine appointment as the city as well as the state are struggling with a shortage of the coveted doses of coronavirus.
“There is no availability,” said the Park Slope woman, who did not want to be identified.
The retiree expressed frustrations about the city’s buggy dating sign-up system.
“Whoever designs the program should be shot,” she urges, adding that prospective vaccine recipients are forced to enter the same information when trying to make an appointment on one of the public or private vaccination sites listed on the site.
Less than two weeks ago, Alyssa Alaimo, 29, came to the aid of her grandparents from Staten Island, aged 82 and 75, who were having trouble registering the city’s vaccination system.
‘My nun works on a computer and Facebook and could not work [the city] website, ”Alaimo said, noting that her grandparents think the Big Apple system for reporting a shot involves ‘too many steps’ and is ‘unclear’.
“They asked me to make appointments for them because they do not know how,” Alaimo said.
Alaimo’s grandparents were eventually able to make a difficult appointment to be vaccinated, but this was canceled due to a shortage of vaccines.
Frances Kraemer, 81, of Queens, managed to get an appointment for the vaccine at Mount Sinai Hospital next month, but said she received an email advising her to “find other vaccination options.” “due to the limited vaccine supply.
‘So it’s a little difficult. I feel very insecure, “she said. “I’m very upset, anxious and worried.”
The city was forced this week to recreate more than 22,000 first-dose vaccine appointments for the two-dose survey and to close its 15 vaccination centers in the five districts by Sunday, due to a lack of supply.
Staten Island Councilman Joe Borelli told The Post that his 68-year-old father, Alex, was also having trouble getting an appointment for the vaccine.
“There are just no slots and not even an option given: ‘OK, we can take you three weeks’ or whatever the case may be,” Borelli said. “You have to learn how to play the system, like when you have to call.”
Borelli added: “It should not be like trying to get tickets for a Yankee playoff game.”