Eligible seniors in New York City, desperate to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, said Friday that they had not found any available slots and that they were tired of Big Apple’s complicated online registration system.
Frank Rodgers, 71, of Staten Island, has repeatedly tried to make an appointment for himself and his 66-year-old wife to receive the vaccine since they became eligible earlier this month, but it continues to enter the walls.
“We do not have an appointment. We don’t know where to go, “Rodgers said. “All our ways to get a vaccine schedule – there is none.”
Rodgers, a security officer for a private company, said he tried to make an appointment at one of the city’s vaccination centers in the neighborhood.
“There is no availability,” he said. “Then it went in February, then it went in March and there were still no availabilities.”
In addition, Rodgers said the city’s online registration system makes the process difficult.
“I am a computer scientist, but there are people my age who have no idea about connecting to the internet and setting up a meeting. All these people are left out, “he said.
A 68-year-old Brooklyn resident said she had “given up” trying to get a vaccine appointment because the city, as well as the state, was facing a lack of coveted doses of coronavirus.
“There is no availability,” said the Park Slope woman, who did not want to be identified.
The pensioner realized the frustrations related to the city’s buggy registration system.
“Anyone who designed the program should be shot,” she said, adding that future vaccine recipients are required to continue entering the same information whenever they try to make an appointment at one of the listed public or private vaccination sites. on the website.
Less than two weeks ago, 29-year-old Alyssa Alaimo came to the aid of her 82-year-old grandparents on Staten Island, who had trouble navigating the city’s vaccine registration system. .
“My grandmother works on her computer and on Facebook and she can’t work [the city] the site, “Alaimo said, noting that her grandparents believed the Big Apple system to sign up for a shooting required” too many steps “and that it was” unclear. “
“They asked me to meet for them because they didn’t know how,” Alaimo said.
Alaimo’s grandparents eventually managed to make a difficult appointment to be inoculated, but it was canceled due to lack of vaccine supply.
Frances Kraemer, 81, of Queens, was able to get a vaccine appointment next month at Mount Sinai Hospital, but said she received an email advising her to “find other vaccination options.” due to limited vaccine supply.
“It simply came to our notice then. I feel very insecure, “she said. “I am very upset, anxious and worried.”
This week, the city was forced to reschedule more than 22,000 vaccinations for the first dose for two-dose vaccination and close its 15 vaccination hubs in the five neighborhoods by Sunday due to lack of supplies.
Staten Island councilor Joe Borelli told The Post that his father, Alex, 68, was also having trouble getting a vaccine appointment.
“There are simply no slots and they are not even offered an option – ‘OK, we can take you three weeks’ or whatever,” Borelli said. “You have to learn how to play the system, like when you call.”
Borelli added: “This should not be like trying to get tickets to a Yankee playoff game.”