“Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes. Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear.”
The lyrics to a song from “Rent” could easily apply to how long people were told it could take to schedule a vaccine appointment in Massachusetts on Thursday.
Shortly after the state opened up an additional 50,000 appointments for eligible residents to receive a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, those who logged on to the state’s scheduling website were confronted with astronomical wait times.
“This is what my constituents are seeing this morning as they log in to try to snag one of the 50,000 promised COVD-19 vaccine doses,” State Senator Jo Comerford wrote in a tweet that included a screenshot of the state’s scheduling site, showing a 440-minute wait in the virtual line.
“Since logging in — and getting the 7 hour wait time — the timer has varied like some sort of wild accordion, going down to 13 minutes then back up to 232 minutes then down to 30 minutes,” Comerford added. “MA *must* do better for our people.”
Others who took to social media to complain about the frustrating process posted wait times of 1,200 minutes to 5,900 minutes to more than 50,000 minutes — or at least a month.
“Been trying to book my mother a COVID vaccine appointment. Went on to the Mass Website. Wait times have gone from 320 minutes, 121 minutes, 53 minutes, 35 minutes, 28 minutes, 58 minutes, 135 minutes, 483 minutes,” one person tweeted. “All within a 21 minute wait in the queue.”
Some people placed in the “digital waiting room” started tweeting directly to Governor Charlie Baker and his administration to air their frustration.
“Your vaccine appt. site is crashing every ten min this morning. So many wasted hours over the past week trying to book. On top of that, it’s telling me I have to wait 2,272 minutes in line,” one person tweeted to the state’s Twitter account.
A wait in vain, for many. Around 9:30 a.m., the state tweeted that “due to a severely limited vaccine supply and a large population of individuals eligible to get a vaccine,” the roughly 50,000 openings at one of the six mass vaccination sites had nearly been filled.
“If you have not been able to schedule an appointment yet, please try again next week — it may take several attempts over the course of a few weeks to get an open slot,” officials said.
I surrender. Two hours on the Massachusetts vaccination website. When I finally get in I see Fenway Park has vaccinations available on various dates in March but then there are no appointment times available and now I'm back up to 503 minutes estimated wait time. I quit.
— TJP (@favoritesch_tjp) February 25, 2021
So (not) impressed with the new and improved MA State Vaccine Website. I was hopeful when I saw a message indicating that I was in a virtual waiting room.
However the wait time does seem a little extreme.
I just need to be patient and hang on for 3.2 more days. pic.twitter.com/T1gWV6WkUq
— Jimahl di Fiosa (@jimahldifiosa) February 25, 2021
My mom trying to navigate the vaccine site:
Wait Time: 440 Minutes
*2 Minutes Later*
Wait Time: 73 Minutes
*56 Minutes Later*
Wait Time: 17 Minutes
*System Says “Sorry, Try Again”
Wait Time: 1,035 Minutes
🙃
— Greg Payne (@GregPayneRuns) February 25, 2021
I am also in the Massachusetts wait line for vaccine appointments and my wait time just went from 14 minutes to 62 minutes to 13,000 minutes to 54 minutes.
— Stacey (@SpinMeWrite) February 25, 2021
@MassGovernor vaccine website is still a mess. Been online since 7am, indicates appointments available. Waiting time to book is 5K+ minutes. 211 line is just busy. Cannot talk to anyone. You need more infrastructure to streamline booking process.
— hopeful mom (@srugnetta) February 25, 2021
Been trying to book my mother a COVID vaccine appointment. Went on to the Mass Website. Wait times have gone from:
320 minutes
121 minutes
53 minutes
35 minutes
28 minutes
58 minutes
135 minutes
483 minutesAll within a 21 minute wait in the queue. WTF man lol
— alan garcia (@A_Ga_Lo22) February 25, 2021
I will say, in case it's relevant to anyone, from a programming standpoint: this is not a real number. It means nothing. It's not even a guess. It has zero power to predict what will happen in two minutes.
— A Horse-Sized Duck (@DantonSix) February 25, 2021
Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.
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February 25, 2021 at 05:45PM
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Long estimated wait times for vaccine appointments on state website leads to frustrations for users - The Boston Globe
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