If you tried, and failed, to get through to the Okeechobee County Health Department to schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination on Monday morning, you aren’t alone.
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OKEECHOBEE — If you tried, and failed, to get through to the Okeechobee County Health Department to schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination on Monday morning, you aren’t alone.
The health department had 500 appointments available and all were filled before noon. Meanwhile, hundreds — possibly thousands — of people who started calling at 8 a.m., got busy signals and tried again and again, but never got through.
Some who got far enough into the system to “press 1 for a vaccination appointment” were subsequently disconnected.
“I started calling right at 8 a.m., made over 200 calls, got through five times only to be disconnected after pressing ‘1’ for immunizations. Two emails to the director did not help,” reported Virginia Fry.
Cheryl Hobson, who also spent much of the morning unsuccessfully trying to schedule an appointment, only to be cut off, suggested the county set up a separate phone line for the COVID-19 vaccination appointments.
The heavy phone traffic by those seeking a vaccination may be making it impossible for those who need other health department services to get through.
Some other Florida counties are using online systems to schedule vaccination appointments.
According to a health department spokesperson, the Florida Department of Health in Okeechobee County received 500 doses of the Moderna vaccination for COVID-19, and cannot make appointments for any more until they receive more vaccine. On Monday they hoped to receive more and start accepting appointments again on Tuesday. However, on Tuesday morning (Jan. 5) the answering machine message stated all appointments are full, so apparently they did not receive the expected shipment of vaccine yet.
The message advises Okeechobee County residents to monitor the website http://okeechobee.floridahealth.gov/ for additional information.
The State of Florida started vaccinating health care providers and first responders in December with hospitals vaccinating staff and the health departments vaccinating health care professionals who are not affiliated with hospitals. Long-term care facilities have contracts with CVS and Walgreens to vaccinate employees and residents.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis designated those over the age of 65 as next in line for the vaccine. Okeechobee County has more than 10,000 residents who are over the age of 65, not counting winter visitors.
The health department phone number is 863-462-5800. The location of the health department is 1728 N.W. Ninth Ave., Okeechobee, 34972.
