For one Fort Washington, Maryland couple, trying to get their COVID-19 vaccine appointment has been an exercise in frustration, heartbreak 鈥� and patience.
Vicki Burnham told 草莓传媒 she鈥檚 over 65 and her husband, Elliot, is over 75. He was diagnosed with cancer in January and is facing chemotherapy in a few weeks.
鈥淗e needs that shot,鈥� she said.
Burnham said she鈥檚 staying on top of vaccine information, and most importantly, how to get an appointment.
What she does, 鈥渧irtually every single day, at least twice a day, I go on to that . What that does is you can find out which, if any, places in your area would be distributing the vaccine 鈥� making the assumption they have it.鈥�
She also checks within her county of residence.
鈥淚 check everything I can in terms of [Prince George鈥檚] County, Adventist Healthcare, the University of Maryland, MedStar, Safeway, Giant, Six Flags,鈥� she said.
Her latest attempt was trying to book an appointment at Adventist Hospital in Fort Washington.
She and her husband went online, picked appointment times and were filling out their information, but by the time they were done, the slot was gone.
鈥淲e may not be the fastest, but we鈥檙e pretty computer savvy, here,鈥� Burnham said. 鈥淚 assumed once I got an appointment time that I had an appointment, but that is not the case.鈥�
So they kept trying. Picking an appointment time. Typing in their information.
鈥淎nd for each of us, three times, it came back saying the appointment was not available.鈥�
Burnham had a suggestion to help limit some of the frustration.
鈥淚f it turns out that slot that you applied for wasn鈥檛 available, why doesn鈥檛 it show you the next available slot that you can then just apply for and get it, as opposed to having resubmit and redo the whole thing?鈥�
Or, Burnham said, making the appointment systems resemble what would happen when people ordered movie tickets online: When someone clicks an appointment time having a feature that locks in that slot for five or so minutes to give enough time for people to fill out their patient information.
She hopes something changes because 鈥渋t鈥檚 been awful. I think the state could have done better, but it鈥檚 a mess.鈥�
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