Portland-Area Seniors Run Into Big Problems Signing Up for COVID Vaccine Appointments

Seniors 70 and older in Portland, Ore., had to deal with a slow website and major glitches earlier this week in attempting to schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments at one of the region's two mass vaccination sites, reports OregonLive . Some seniors complained of scheduling pages taking up to 30 minutes to load, and being told appointments were already taken when clicking on available booking times. Meanwhile, all available online appointments for the Oregon Convention Center and the Portland International Airport's drive-through clinic were booked within the first hour, frustrating seniors who in some cases directed complaints to state lawmakers. Websites spokeswoman Tamara Hargens-Bradley admitted to an error that allowed people to book appointments early and left others with no slots. She added that "appointment scheduling tools did not crash this morning; however, they did slow down as they approached maximum capacity: 4,800 concurrent users each." Stephanie Hooper with nonprofit group Age+ cited Oregon's poor record in administering vaccines to seniors, and among her suggested fixes is "pausing" seniors younger than 75 from scheduling appointments until older seniors get access.