PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — Booking a flight online is pretty easy, so is getting a hotel room. But making an appointment for a life-saving vaccine is not so simple. Kimberley Smith, 75, of Mesa, is one of the thousands of frustrated Arizonans who’ve had problems making an appointment for their COVID-19 vaccine on the Department of Health Services website.
“This is people’s lives we’re talking about,” said Smith. “This is not some nice thing to have. It’s people’s lives, and it’s going to get worse.”
Another viewer said they’d spent more than 20 hours on the website and still no appointment. Ken Colburn with Data Doctors said two of the biggest problems are users having to re-enter their personal information over and over again and the site requiring people to check dates that don’t have appointments available.
“As someone that’s tried to use that website, I wholeheartedly agree that a major overhaul needs to be done,” said Colburn. “Some basic fundamentals they just skipped over. It shouldn’t be that difficult to make some of these really strange things occurring on-site go away.”
The failure and frustration of the state website may be coming to an end.
DHS Director Dr. Cara Christ has announced the state is in the process of fixing the website to make it more “user friendly.”
“I completely agree with their frustration,” said Christ. “We are listening to that customer feedback because a lot of us had our own very frustrating issues with the website.”
The new and improved website is expected to be ready this weekend.
“It needs to be more “user friendly” and not from the perspective of a 20-year old, but a 60 or 70-year-old,” said Smith.
Jason Barry is best known for his Dirty Dining Report which airs Fridays at 6:30 p.m. on CBS 5. He is also the storyteller behind CBS 5’s Pay It Forward which airs every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
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