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Salt Lake Co. Health officials apologize for false COVID-19 vaccination cancellation notices

Posted at 6:07 AM, Jan 14, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-14 08:15:48-05

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake County Health Department is once again apologizing for another issue related to its COVID-19 vaccination program.

On Wednesday morning, tens of thousands of people simultaneously attempted to load the website's vaccine registration form, and the website was unable to handle the demand.

Late Wednesday evening, the Health Department reported that they had mistakenly sent cancellation notices to people who are scheduled to receive vaccinations in late February. No scheduled vaccination events have been canceled and the people who received cancellation notices will receive corrections.

"We apologize profusely. The challenging morning today was caused by a technology problem with our scheduling vendor, but this evening's mistake was human error. It has been a difficult day for our staff and for you, the people we serve, and we appreciate your patience and forgiveness," a post on the Salt Lake County Health Department's Facebook page says.

Despite Wednesday's technical difficulties, the county reports about 25,000 people ages 70 and older are now registered to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations. The county currently does not have that many doses on hand, but they were told they can count on them.

Gary Edwards, executive director for the Salt Lake County Health Department, said they are scheduled out until the end of February -- they just hope they will have enough doses to administer.

"We have been told to plan on those doses," said Edwards. "We don’t have them at this point."