YORK COUNTY, Va. — Virginia's new vaccine "one-stop-shop" registration site is up and running, but not without some initial complications to start the day on Tuesday.
"Seems like it's trying, but it's got some growing pains," Seaford resident Scott Borges told 13News Now Tuesday.
The highly anticipated launch comes as a way to streamline the entire vaccination process at the state and local levels. The state launched the standardized system to ensure people aren't double registered, making sure people who are already vaccinated are removed from the waitlist, and more to curb confusion.
However, on the first day of the statewide system's launch, the site was unreachable for a short period of time, with some users receiving an error message instead of the system's interface:
By noon, the site was back up and running. A confirmation message can be sent via text, phone, or email once the pre-registration is complete. It's a tool health officials say is important in making sure people feel confident about their vaccine appointments.
The Department of Health released a statement Tuesday, saying: "The Virginia Department of Health expects millions of unique visits to the site on Tuesday, and IT teams will be addressing back-end components as needed throughout the day."
A VDH spokesperson said there were "speed issues" they were working on with Google.
"It took a little while to get in... I just attributed that to, 'Hey all the news stations just announced it's live,'" Borges said, who ran into a different problem Tuesday morning, too.
Borges had previously registered for the vaccine months before with the Peninsula Health District. He was expecting to log in Tuesday and see a confirmation for his previous appointment. However, he said the system didn't recognize his original appointment, leading him to register again for safety's sake.
“That was a grade 'B' on the test. A grade 'A' would’ve been, 'Yes, you’re pre-registered through the Peninsula Health District. That’s what I was hoping to see, and did not see.”
The VDH release said, "Data migration is continuing throughout the week and it may take several days for your name to appear in the centralized system. Everyone who has previously registered is still on the list, and their status will not be affected."
A new statewide COVID hotline will be unveiled Wednesday by Gov. Ralph Northam.
The new registration site is live on vaccinate.virginia.gov.