Public health officials try to clear COVID vaccine appointment logjam

Henderson resident Robbi Senneke has been trying without luck since Monday night to get second-dose, COVID-19 vaccine appointments for her and her husband on the Southern Nevada Health District’s online scheduling portal.

“At long last I managed to get the form completely filled out for my husband and hit ‘submit’ only to have the site freeze again and crash,” Senneke said in an email on Tuesday. “I’ve watched it for several hours and now that it’s come back online, I’m told that all possible appointments are filled.

“To be very unclassy … this really sucks,” continued Senneke, 71, reflecting a common sentiment among Clark County residents frustrated by an appointment portal that is buckling under heavy demand.

Health district and state officials on Wednesday pledged some relief.

District officials said the agency would be emailing an appointment link to those who received their first dose of vaccine Jan. 10-19 at one of three health district vaccination sites: Cashman Center, Western High School or the health district’s Decatur Boulevard location. The district advised those who did not provide a valid email address when they received their first shot to use a shared public link: https://covid.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/vaccine/second-dose/.

The district also said anyone who needs assistance in making appointments could call the agency at 702-759-1900. The line is staffed from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“Yes, we’ve had a lot of phone calls,” said JoAnn Rupiper, the health district’s director of clinical services, adding that the district had just increased its capacity to answer a higher volume of calls.

“We’re trying to work through these issues so people can get through to us,” Rupiper said during an afternoon online briefing by health district and Clark County officials.

Meanwhile, state officials said that Nevada in the next few weeks would be launching a new appointment-booking tool that could help to address residents’ frustrations.

“Any of the counties who are struggling with your appointment booking systems will have the option to use this tool that we’re purchasing,” Julia Peek, a deputy administrator with the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, said at a separate briefing. It was not immediately clear whether Clark County would be using this tool.

The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services also has launched a call center to answer questions about the vaccine and assist those who may need help making an appointment. That number is 1-800-401-0946. Assistance is available in multiple languages. The call center is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.

“We wanted to ensure that anyone who is eligible for a vaccine has an easy way to navigate appointment-booking,” Peek said. “Ensuring equity is the cornerstone of vaccination efforts in our state. If someone does not have easy access to the internet or a smartphone, they can call the call center for support.”

Call for patience

As they have done in the past, health district officials asked for residents’ patience.

“We’re literally on the vaccine train,” said Scott Black, chairman of the health district’s Board of Health and a North Las Vegas city councilman. “The train is moving down the tracks, we’re building momentum, but we’re also simultaneously, building the tracks right out in front of the train as we go.”

The recommended interval between the first and second doses is four weeks for the Moderna vaccine and three weeks for the Pfizer vaccine. Dr. Fermin Leguen, the district’s chief health officer, stressed that that the interval need not be exact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that up to six weeks between doses is acceptable.

But this is cold comfort for Senneke, who has planned a long-awaited trip to see her grandchildren based on when she would be fully vaccinated.

What’s more, she asked, “Does anyone have any intelligent idea what the protocol will be if people exceed their second dose limitations? Start over? No immunity?

“This is just wrong. I have no idea what our option will be.”

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter.

The state’s COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday added information on weekly immunization numbers.

The new page includes total doses administered in Nevada as reported on WebIZ, vaccination rates per 100,000 residents and other data. The dashboard can be found on the NVHealthResponse.nv.gov home page.