Patterson Mill COVID-19 Clinic Halted Due To Link Sharing: Report

BEL AIR, MD — Because people had shared links to their appointments with those who were not eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Harford County health officials reportedly canceled a coronavirus vaccination clinic Friday at Patterson Mill High School.

PrepMod, the software system Maryland is using to schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments, is reportedly not capable of creating private links. This means those eligible to receive the vaccine can share their links to make appointments with those who are not eligible.

The Harford County Health Department has asked people not to share their links for scheduling appointments and advised that it will check for eligibility on site.

Maryland is in phase 1C of its vaccination distribution plan, meaning select groups are able to receive the vaccine, including those over 65, some essential workers, continuity of government employees, education staff and health care providers, among others.

About 1,000 people who had scheduled appointments at Friday's Patterson Mill vaccination clinic were not eligible, according to The Aegis, which reported rather than making phone calls to that many individuals, the Harford County Health Department opted to cancel Friday's clinic altogether and redirect the more than 200 eligible people who were slated to get vaccinated Friday at Patterson Mill to another vaccination site.

This is not the first time PrepMod has led to problems for health departments. Link sharing has also led to overbooking of appointments and cancellations in Virginia and Baltimore.

The PrepMod site in Massachusetts crashed as people flocked there to register for the COVID-19 vaccine in February, according to WBUR, the NPR affiliate in Boston, which reported the software developed in Maryland is being used in 27 states and jurisdictions for vaccine scheduling.

The Maryland Department of Health plans to use PrepMod only for Phase 1 of its plan for vaccine distribution, based on plans submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PrepMod, which has in recent years been used to conduct flu clinics for school districts, is the "main vaccine management system" in this phase, according to state health officials.

When Phase 2 arrives and the vaccine is more available, "the need for allocations no longer exists," according to the Maryland Department of Health, and the state will monitor its vaccine inventory and administration using ImmuNet, another software.

See Also: COVID-19 Vaccine In Harford County: Where To Get It