After glitches, Allegheny County resumes 2nd covid dose invitations

The Allegheny County Health Department has resumed sending second dose invitations for its new registration system, following the system’s bumpy unveiling on Thursday.

The county officially launched a new online registration system for individuals to sign up for the covid-19 vaccine. The system was meant to make signing up easier — allowing users to register for first doses, second doses and a waiting list that would alert them of their eligibility.

The health department, according to its original announcement, said people who already received their first dose through the health department but had not yet scheduled their second dose would receive an email containing an “appointment number” for doing so with the new system. But within hours, individuals trying to sign up for their second doses were reporting issues with the site.

By Thursday around 7 p.m., the health department tweeted there were at least two issues with the site affecting users trying to sign up for a second dose (those signing up for a first shot were not affected). A few hours later, the department said it would not send any more second dose appointment emails for the rest of the night, “due to several issues that need resolved.”

“We expect to begin issuing 2nd dose emails again tomorrow following overnight testing & resolution of remaining issues,” the department tweeted.

Due to several issues that need resolved, ACHD will not be sending out any further 2nd dose appointment emails this evening. We expect to begin issuing 2nd dose emails again tomorrow following overnight testing & resolution of remaining issues. pic.twitter.com/0aC0WEfBP2

— Allegheny County Health Department (@HealthAllegheny) April 2, 2021

The county on Friday afternoon said the health department has once again begun sending out corrected second dose appointment emails, which contain the code necessary for scheduling.

In a news release, the health department highlighted a few caveats, as follows:

• As some individuals using smart phones are unable to confirm their registration, when possible, individuals should schedule their second appointment on other devices.
• The system automatically searches for available appointments for the next five days from the start date; if a “no appointments are available” message is received, research using the next week’s day as the start date.
• Original emails indicated that the code would expire in 24 hours. That has been reset to 72 hours and the corrected emails will state the same.

Work is continuing to address the above issues, the department said.