Stephen King Got Vaccinated In Pasco; What Are Your Chances?

PASCO COUNTY, FL — It's time again to play the vaccine lottery game and hope you're among the lucky Pasco County seniors to get an appointment.

Vaccination appointments will open for registration on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 2 p.m.

An appointment is mandatory to receive the coronavirus vaccination, and Pasco County has been offering them each Sunday at 2 p.m. to the first residents who are able to register online or by phone before all appointments are taken.

This week, the Department of Health-Pasco County said it has 3,000 vaccines available, which is the most the county's had available to date.

Appointments on Sunday will once again be available through the CDR Maguire Health & Medical patient portal or by calling 1-844-770-8548.

You must have an account set up on the CDR Maguire Health & Medical patient portal before you can make an appointment. Appointments are only available to those age 65 and up.

Residents continue to complain that, despite repeated attempts, they've never had any success getting an appointment through the Pasco County Department of Health's vendor, CDR Maguire Health & Medical, although it appears that horror author Stephen King didn't have a problem.

"I waited for a vaccination appointment, and patience was rewarded," said King in a Feb. 6 tweet. "Drive-thru in Pasco County. Moderna. No adverse effects. I think it was the National Guard running the show. Very cool. Get it done, folks. Let's kill this thing."

After selling 350 million books, it's likely King can afford a computer with abundant random access memory and gigabytes that didn't freeze up and show spinning blue balls on the screen when he made his appointment.

The internationally known fiction writer and his wife, Tabitha, reportedly spend their summers in Bangor, Maine, and winters Casey Key in Sarasota.

Marge Phipps wasn't as lucky, or as well-equipped, as King.

"Another wasted Sunday vaccine sign-up attempt," Phipps said. "This time I used my laptop, my iPad and my phone. When the circle of doom started spinning on one, I jumped to another...all three locations and all slots every day. This has gotten so frustrating, I actually started crying while I was swearing. Then I ate a whole box of Girl Scout cookies all by myself."

Pamela Chadwick said she's also at the end of her rope.

"I am a Florida resident living in Pasco County, age 69, with a history of stroke and heart disease," she said. "I am a semi-retired real estate broker and substitute teacher, although, without a vaccination, I have been hesitant to do either for a year now. I registered - or at least I think I did as they have my information and it signs itself in when I pull up the website at CDR Macguire. However, I have never been alerted about vaccination times. Friends from other states have called me to say they are offering slots, however, even if I am there the second they go on, the site crashes or tells me they're all booked."

Cynthia Reck said she, too, has never received a notification for vaccination appointments, and regularly checks her spam and trash folders to make sure she didn't miss an email.

"The closest we have come to even getting onto the scheduling area of their (CDR Maguire's) site, we experienced 'pick a vaccination #1 date and hit next,' which we did. Then it takes you to an area to pick vaccination #2 date, and when we did that, it said pick another vaccination #1 date," said Reck. "This going in circles repeated at least 12 times until we chose a vaccination #1 date, went to vaccination #2 to pick there and there were no dates to choose from, therefore, it would not let us register for a date at all. Shouldn't there be the same amount of #1 as #2 slots? I emailed Maguire and got a ridiculous canned response which was no help whatsoever and added to the mounting frustration."

Pasco resident Noreen Galvin said her heart skipped a beat when she clicked on an available location that showed five appointments were available. After a month of trying, she thought she finally was successful.

"But, when it took me to the next page, it said that the location was full. When I clicked on previous, it still showed five available appointments. I repeated this cycle for several times with the same result. Then, on the seventh time, no appointments available. This is unacceptable," Galvin said. "I have talked to many of my friends over 65 as well as my brother (who is also a Pasco resident and is 70). All of us have tried both the Publix appointment sites and the Florida Department of Health site. Many of us are feeling discouraged. We normally cannot even access past the introduction page. If we do, then we are in the revolving refresh page until those dreaded words, 'All appointments are claimed," appear."

Patch sent an inquiry to the DOH-Pasco, county commissioners, CDR Maguire and U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, none of which responded to Patch's request for an explanation.

In the meantime, the DOH-Pasco has opted out of using the state of Florida's vaccination system, saying it will continue to use the sign-up system provided by vendor CDR Maguire.

Those fortunate enough to get an appointment at 2 p.m. Sunday will be given a vaccination at the drive-thru vaccination site at Saint Leo University Monday, Feb. 8 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 10 or Friday, Feb. 12 from 9 a.m. or at Gulf View Square Mall Tuesday, Feb. 9 or Thursday, Feb. 11 from 9 a.m. t0 5 p.m.

For more information, visit the DOH-Pasco website. See stories below for other sources of vaccines.

See related stories:

• All Vaccinations In Pasco Claimed; Residents Frustrated
• Here's How To Get A Coronavirus Vaccination In Pasco County
• Pasco To Continue Using CDR Maguire Portal For Vaccination Appts
• Publix To Offer Coronavirus Vaccines In Pinellas, Pasco Counties
• Walmart And Winn-Dixie Will Offer COVID-19 Vaccines In Florida
• BayCare To Begin Coronavirus Vaccinations For Vulnerable Populations This Week
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• State-Run Vaccination Site Opens At University Square Mall