‘Viral’ links for vaccine appointments are a big problem and Dallas had to see it coming

The city of Dallas’ fiasco on Saturday at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center – with cars stretched in an endless line of blocks and allegedly forced elderly residents to relieve themselves on the side of the road – is an Aesop fable for the COVID-19 era.

Just a few weeks ago, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson blew up Dallas County officials – the city’s public health partners – for the sloppy rollout of the Fair Park Vaccination Center. The province suddenly allowed access to 75 years after canceling hundreds of unauthorized appointments selected through an uninsured registration link. Johnson was indignant and wanted us to know.

“It is unclear how or why such a problem was possible and why the county did not take precautions for it,” Johnson wrote on January 17.

Yet the same thing happened under his care when he managed the city’s first vaccine distribution. City officials sent 10,000 people for 5,000 doses of invitations for invitations and expected them not to act. Instead, predictably, the invitation link was widely shared, despite a useless warning that it should not be. As a result, 17,000 desperate souls eager to be vaccinated clicked on it.

The void contributed to the chaos in the conference center on Saturday, when many elderly people lingered in cars for hours and told at least one man that he should relieve himself on the street.

Johnson on Monday found that he had to apologize to a group of reporters. We have no pleasure in his problems, but perhaps a dose of humility will inspire better leadership from a mayor who often opts for antagonism or rivalry with fellow leaders when this crisis requires our leaders to work together in all possible ways.

Rocky Vaz, the city’s emergency management coordinator, told us that city officials had to move quickly once the state announced that Dallas would get its own vaccine supply. The city has used plan software used by other vaccine providers.

“We realized very quickly that there was no security in it, similar to what happened to the country, but we had no choice because we had to start vaccinating people,” he said.

The city underestimated how many people would share the link, Vaz said, and even when city staff frantically canceled unauthorized appointments, more appointments flooded in.

The state requires center providers to use their full dose allocations each week, and we understand that the urgent task of vaccinating people requires improvisation. But the city’s willingness to risk the same scheduling errors as Dallas County is another blow to the crumbling public confidence. Several people who thought they had confirmed appointments said they were confused and ‘crushed’. A man whose 85-year-old mother waited unsuccessfully on Saturday told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) that his mother would stay home and not try again.

While Johnson was pushing the state to give Dallas its own vaccine grant, he should have planned for it. The ‘viral’ part of dating links is a common thing. Hospitals in Houston described the problem to reporters in early January. If Dallas officials called Houston Methodist Hospital, the city may have learned, like us, that the scheduling link was shared 1,000 times within 15 minutes during the first day of the hospital’s sending out SMS vaccinations. System Quality Program Director Courtenay Bruce told us how Houston Methodist used technological maneuvers and additional language to make the problem ‘almost non-existent’.

Johnson on Monday recalled his criticism of the province, and Johnson told reporters that the city had increased on short notice, even though the province as the public health authority had “almost a year” to plan a vaccine. We were hoping to hear a powerful vow to work with the city’s partners to rebuild public confidence.

Still, we are pleased that the city has partnered with the Methodist Health System for the next round of vaccinations. The moral of this story is to be humble in asking for help.