Maricopa County, Ariz., has experienced issues with the state health department's vaccine management system, which have "dramatically slowed down" its COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Fronteras reports.
The state's vaccine management system was developed and tested through a collaboration with local partners, and it has been used without issues in most counties, an Arizona Department of Health Services spokesperson told the publication. However, in Maricopa County many people reported that the system never sent them an email to schedule their vaccine appointments, and others who did receive an email were directed to areas outside of the county, according to the Jan. 1 report.
Maricopa County got the vaccine management system just two days before the county launched its Southeast and Southwest vaccine sites. In addition to not receiving emails to schedule appointments or being directed to the wrong administration areas, healthcare workers were also unable to schedule their second dose when they got their first dose because the state system could not allow this function at the time of service due to the numerous issues people were having with securing their first event.
The state and county can now send out another invite for a second dose appointment, and most of the other issues have since been resolved, Maricopa health officials said. The county's vaccine sites have been running at full capacity at the time of publication.