Changes Coming To MA Coronavirus Vaccination Booking System

How can it be that much more efficient to buy Red Sox tickets than it is to confirm an appointment to get vaccinated against a potentially deadly virus?

A version of that question was rhetorically posed to Patch dozens of times this week as readers expressed mind-numbing irritation with the state booking process for coronavirus vaccinations that often included answering the same question over and over again — only to find out the appointment they were booking was no longer available — this week.

While it won't be soon enough for those who lost hours online filling in personal information for appointments that ultimately weren't there, state Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said a fix is coming to the booking system that will make it more like buying a pair of concert or sporting event tickets.

"One of the things we are absolutely committed to doing is changing the process so that you can sort of hold the appointment," Sudders said in an interview with CBS Boston on Friday, "while you are putting in that personal information. That's one of the changes we are looking to make."

Those familiar with buying tickets to a show online know that once you see seats are available, you can "lock them in" for a certain period of time until you can put in your credit card information. This assures that no one else buys the seats while you are paying for them, and no one else thinks those seats are available when you got to them first.

Sudders said changes coming to the vaccination booking portal "in the next couple of weeks" should be similar.

"Like when you get theater tickets or other kinds of performances, you have that little time clock where you have 25 or 30 minutes to finish your transaction," she said. "We are looking to make several improvements to the website in the next couple of weeks, which would make it hopefully less stressful to individuals.

"The one about putting all that information in, and then you get to book it, and then it's not available? We're committed to fixing that issue."

Sudders said the state was "very displeased" with the performance of PrepMod, the Maryland-based company that runs the booking portion of the state's vaccination site, on Thursday. PrepMod issued a statement on Friday taking "full responsibility" for crashes that lasted most of the day that more than 1 million state residents became newly eligible for the vaccine.

("It's Torture": North Shore Residents Sound Off On Vaccine Fiasco)

PrepMod's statement said: "We deeply regret what happened in Massachusetts and are committed to ensuring this does not happen again."

However, because the 70,000 weekly appointments at the state's mass vaccination sites are only released on Thursdays, it will be days before the system is tested again after state officials said it got more than 2 million hits or attempted hits the day it crashed.

Gov. Charlie Baker said at his Wednesday news conference it could take up to a month before all those newly eligible for the vaccine — including all residents 65 years old or older and those with two or more comorbidities that make them especially vulnerable to the virus — to get their first shot.

"People have to still be patient," Sudders said. "But that appointment that gives you hope, and that schedule, for that to fail was completely unacceptable."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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