State developing statewide COVID vaccine appointment database

ORLANDO, Fla. - The state is creating a database for the COVID-19 vaccine -- a statewide website where anyone will be able to log on to make a vaccination appointment in Florida.

"We’re working on a registration system that we plan to launch in the coming weeks to help integrate sites’ registrations and fix some of the problems that we’ve all read about," said Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz.

Moskowitz announced the one-stop-shop Thursday as an alternative to the many portals people have tried with frustrations, including Phyllis Humphreys, who couldn't log on last week.

"I’ve been trying not to have anything to do so I can refresh the screen so that whenever it comes up, we’ll be able to log on," said Humphreys, who lives in Leesburg.

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The site would not be mandatory for each county to join, but there are benefits if they do.

Dr. Raul Pino, from the Health Department in Orange County, said the state would pay for it. That saves the county from having to pay a third party.

"What we have right now has been shared costs between us and the county and of course we’re looking to that platform to reduce the cost to our residents and taxpayers," said Dr. Pino.

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Dr. Pino is still a bit hesitant. He is concerned that like most of the other appointment websites, there may be glitches at first.

"Quickly it’s concerning, in the sense that this type of data transfer, you do it quickly, you make a lot of mistakes." 

But assuming it's well developed, he said the reward to join just may outweigh the risks.

There is still no set timeline of how soon it could be up and running.

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