We apologize for the issues with the vaccination portal this morning. The Districts COVID-19 vaccination appointment portal did not perform as expected due to a technical review failure that resulted in eligible residents with a qualifying medical condition being unable to register. As the IT team worked to stabilize the website due to heavy traffic, there were delays in finding and fixing the issue with the eligibility criteria.
We know how stressful of a time this is, and we regret that this unfortunate situation occurred on a day when many of our residents with chronic health conditions were newly eligible for vaccination appointments. The technical review failure has now been addressed, and with tens of thousands of residents newly eligible for the vaccine this week, we are currently working with Microsoft in anticipation of extremely high traffic during future appointment releases.
The portal and call center will open as scheduled for all eligible individuals on Friday, February 26, at 9:00 a.m. There will be 4,350 appointments available. We are also adding a registration session on Saturday, February 27 at 9:00 a.m., for eligible residents with qualifying medical conditions in priority zip codes. There will be 3,500 appointments available. Appointments can be scheduled by visiting vaccinate.dc.gov or calling 1-855-363-0333.
We know that the vaccine we currently have available is not enough to meet the demand among our residents and workers. Therefore, we will continue to advocate for DC to receive more vaccine so that any resident who wants a vaccine can get one. Our goal is to facilitate an equitable and efficient distribution of the vaccine.
Thank you!
Additional update from Councilmember Lewis George:
We are sharing with you an update on vaccine access and DC Health's apology and announcement.
The key points are:
The issues were mainly caused by a technical review failure that prevented eligible residents with qualifying medical conditions aged 18-64 from being able to sign up for appointments
That technical issue has now been addressed and the online portal is being prepared for heavy traffic
On Friday, Feb. 26 at 9am -- tomorrow -- the online portal and call center will open up to all eligible DC residents (including those with qualifying health conditions) with 4,350 appointments
On Saturday, Feb. 27 at 9am there will be an extra registration session for eligible residents …