How to Navigate the Confusing COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

A rundown of a few problems:

Inconsistent eligibility rules. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has outlined a recommended rollout schedule, but states make their own priority groupings. That has meant that in some states people who are 75 and up aren't even eligible yet (Massachusetts opens up to that older group, part of its Phase 2, on Feb. 1), while in others, including Florida, anyone 65 and older was able to claim a shot — or at least attempt to — weeks ago.

Low supply. Far more people are now eligible for vaccination than there are doses available in many areas, and the pool of those eligible is growing steadily. On Jan. 25 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, 127,000 residents were suddenly eligible for vaccinations after the city expanded access to people 65-plus and younger people with high-risk medical conditions. That means long waits for many, if the city is correct in expecting to receive only about 5,800 doses a week.

Technical difficulties. Website crashes and wonky systems that don't acknowledge receipt of requests or are confusing to navigate are making appointment sign-up hard all across the country. Roy Delgado, 78, a retired warrant officer in Arizona's Maricopa County, spent days trying to get through to the health department online and, when that failed, by phone. “They give you this recording, and keep you listening to music and it just goes on and on.” He hung up when his battery started running out. Delgado finally got an appointment days later after receiving an invitation to sign up in an email from the hospital system where he was once treated after a heart attack. “We're desperate here,” he adds, referring to the fact that Arizona is one of the states hardest hit by COVID-19 right now. “We're apprehensive and scared."

Differing paces of rollout in different states. “We're just way behind here,” says Jan Thornberg, 68, in rural Racine County, Wisconsin, who's been baffled by what she sees as the sluggish pace of the vaccination effort in Wisconsin, which has so far vaccinated about 70,000 people — about 7 percent of people 65 and older — in comparison with other states (West Virginia is currently the star state as far as per capita vaccinations; 9.4 percent of its population has received at least the first shot). Thornberg technically became eligible on Jan. 25, when the state moved into phase 1b, but timing is uncertain, as supplies are extremely limited: While about 700,000 Wisconsinites are 65 and older, the state currently receives around 70,000 first-dose vaccines per week from the federal government, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. This week she signed up as a volunteer at a vaccination site, helping with paperwork, which she hopes will allow her to get her shots sooner.