Syracuse, NY – On Wednesday afternoon, dozens of residents of the Vineyards of Miller Place retirement community achieved the equivalent of gold: Appointments for Covid-19 vaccines at nearby Stony Brook University.
Resident Sharon Tiskowitz, using a link provided by the city of Port Jefferson, said at least 50 people had entered the complex to be vaccinated. They took one big step to resume normal life. They quickly received emails confirming their appointments, each with a barcode and appointment time, under the letterhead of the New York Department of Health.
“We were euphoric because we finally did it after a few days of trying to get on the site,” said Tiskowitz, who made appointments for herself and her husband in mid-March.
On Thursday afternoon, they get another email: their appointments have been canceled because the website link they use was not yet supposed to be public. Go back in line, the state said.
“It’s awful,” Tiskowitz said. ‘We printed the state health department confirmations with a stamp on it. We can not believe that this would happen. ”
Thousands of people from Long Island to Upstate New York lost their coveted appointments Thursday after clicking in good faith on what the state calls an “inactive link.”
Jackie Cole, a first-class teacher on Long Island, made an appointment Monday for the Jones Beach site, an hour’s drive from home. A day or two later, a colleague sends a call that calls her to Stony Brook, which is much closer to home. This left her with two appointments.
“I did the right thing and canceled the Jones Beach appointment so that someone else did not have the vaccine,” Cole said. Then the state canceled her Stony Brook vaccine.
“I’m out of my mind,” says Cole, who has not yet been able to resume an appointment. “I have underlying health problems, and now I feel like I’m thrown in the trash.”
A cryptic news release sent Thursday night from the state Office of Information Technology – not the health department – said a link to six vaccination sites that had not yet been opened had been leaked. Appointments made with the link are ‘void’, according to the release.
“You have made a vaccination appointment for a state-owned place through an inactive link shared without authorization,” the letter reads. “(B) because you are not currently booking, your appointment and confirmation are invalid.”
People with their appointment papers were furious.
“I think it’s bad that they canceled all the appointments,” said Heather Gordon, who was finally able to plan a shot on Feb. 7 in Stony Brook for her 71-year-old father, who has multiple medical conditions. ‘I got a barcode. I printed out a registration card for him and it was completely legal. ‘
The state’s news release said the leaked link allowed people to sign up at sites in Binghamton, Buffalo, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Stony Brook and Utica.
Since the state receives only 300,000 doses per week of vaccine for the 7 million New Yorkers now eligible, securing an appointment with the vaccine is the Holy Grail for many New Yorkers. They are frustrated by clumsy websites, stuck phone lines and a confusing cascade of eligibility requirements.
Nick Palczak, a high school teacher in Oneida County, said he tried for days to get an appointment after teachers were eligible for the shot this week.
“I went to our country’s website and looked at links to hospitals and looked for times,” he said. “Every time I clicked on a link, there was nothing there.”
On Thursday morning, a friend emailed a link to get an appointment at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Palczak jumped on the state health department website and soon had an appointment for Jan. 21.
“When I filled it out, it was as real as could be real,” he said.
A few hours later, the second email arrives: the appointment canceled. Go back to get started.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I want to be responsible and they encourage us (to be vaccinated) to go back to school and get things going.”
People who sign up for appointments do not have to pay for the state’s mistakes, said Bob Pacific, of Frankfort, in Herkimer County. Pacific, who has made appointments for himself and his wife, said he wrote to his congressman for the first time in his life.
“If it wasn’t a valid link, someone was throwing,” Pacific said. “I think they should fix it and contact us for new appointments.”
The state canceled the appointments to be honest with New Yorkers who did not have the unauthorized link, said Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s top assistant.
The news service’s news release does not say who leaked the login link, where it appeared on social media or how many people made appointments. The case is said to have been referred to the Office of the State Inspector General, which is investigating the conduct of government officials and agencies.
Hundreds of New Yorkers who signed up for Covid-19 appointments – and received official confirmation letters like these – were notified Thursday afternoon that their appointments had been canceled because they had used an “inactive link” to sign up. Special for Syracuse.comSpecial for Syracuse.com