DUVAL COUNTY, Fla — Before the new vaccination sites open in Duval County next week, more Prime Osborn Convention Center appointments became available Thursday for residents who are 65 and older.
It was another virtual fistfight. According to a health department spokesperson, 390,000 residents were on the website ready to click on the link when appointments opened at 5 p.m., which caused it to crash.
The website is back up and running, but all of the 5,000 appointments for next week were booked in 45 minutes. If you do the math, that means more than 100 appointments were made every minute.
“I went online, and I tried," Theodore Taylor, pastor at Greater Love Pentecostal Holiness Church said.
He hasn’t been able to snag a vaccine appointment for himself or his 66-year-old wife Joanne yet.
However, when it finally is their turn, Taylor is concerned to take his wife who hasn’t been going out.
“I don’t want her to get the COVID, because she wouldn’t make it. She has too many underlying conditions," he explained. "So many other people are in this same situation that we're in, can't get out.“
Taylor said he plans to stop trying to beat the internet rush and wait, hoping there will eventually be an option to get the shot administered in the safety of their home.