Tired of checking 10 websites? Idaho launches COVID-19 vaccine sign-up system
Updated 10:08 a.m. on March 5, 2021, after the website’s launch.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare launched a web-based way on Friday for Idahoans to get on lists for coronavirus vaccines.
The system is statewide and will help Idahoans sign up for vaccines in the coming months, the department said on Twitter. Idaho residents can choose the counties where they’re willing to be vaccinated. The website asks about age, address, health conditions and essential job categories.
Gov. Brad Little and Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen have “heard numerous Idahoans express their frustration at being unable to make a vaccine appointment because of overwhelmed phone lines and websites at the local public health districts and enrolled provider organizations,” Jeppesen wrote in a department blog post last month.
“So I want to let you know that I hear you. I understand your frustration. Under Gov. Brad Little’s direction, DHW teams are working on a vaccine pre-registration solution. It will save you time and worry. When it is available, we will let you know through all available channels. Your ability to get a vaccine — should you choose to do so — is our top priority.”
Meanwhile, Crush The Curve Idaho has launched its own vaccine scheduling program. The nonprofit’s VaccinateThe208.com website now includes a chat function and a web form for people who need help finding open appointments. It also has an option for people to call 208-391-7036 for help locating openings in their area.
During a press briefing Tuesday, Jeppesen offered more details about the roll-out of the state’s system. He said it would be launched “probably late this week.”
It will be an online system — one different from PrepMod, a system the state had considered using but decided against.
“We actually determined that, for this purpose, PrepMod was not going to get us what we needed, and so this is actually a solution that we’ve put together here internally with one of our vendors,” Jeppesen said. “It captures the information of people who are interested (in getting) vaccinated and allows us to get that information to our provider partners.”
PrepMod worked well to collect information from people who wanted vaccines, but it “was proving to be challenging in connecting up with our provider partners on the back end, to get them the names,” Jeppesen said.
The state’s soon-to-launch system may be similar to the way some health care providers and public health districts have managed vaccine appointments.
When a vaccine clinic has leftover doses — because a patient doesn’t show up, for example — health care providers have called in people from “no-waste wait lists” they maintain, or have asked their local health district to contact eligible people waiting for an appointment. It’s unclear how often that happens.
One situation arose earlier this week in East Idaho, spokespeople for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and the South Central Public Health District told the Statesman on Wednesday.
A Walgreens pharmacy in East Idaho had an issue with its COVID-19 vaccine inventory and shipped more than 200 doses to other Walgreens locations, including a store in Twin Falls, they said. The Twin Falls store’s pharmacy didn’t have enough people scheduled for shots, so its staff contacted SCPHD.
The SCPHD staff found enough people from eligible groups — 65 and older, health care workers, teachers and others — to make sure every dose was used and none was wasted, a SCPHD spokesperson said.
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 2:51 PM.
