Summit County Public Health Switches To Lottery System For Vaccine Appointments!

FEATURED PHOTO: SUMMIT COUNTY HEALTH COMMISSIONER DONNA SKODA

Ideastream.org, By Kabir Bhatia-WKSU, Posted March 3rd 2021

Summit County Public Health will contact residents for COVID-19 vaccination with a lottery system starting March 1.

Demand for appointments has been so high, the health department said its phone and internet systems are occasionally overload. Health Commissioner Donna Skoda said about 110,000 people are currently on the vaccine list and public health officials are currently working out how many people will be contacted each week.

Skoda calls it a “work in progress,” which should alleviate some of the issues people have been facing online.

“I heard some heartbreaking stories [such as] people sat for two hours and watched it spin, and thought they were getting an appointment, and they didn’t. So clearly, the system couldn’t handle it; and I don’t know if any system could handle that kind of volume,” Skoda said. “I encourage anyone [who is] having a hard time getting scheduled to just call our [main] line and tell them you’re having difficulty.”

Under current state guidelines, Ohioans 65 and older are eligible for the vaccine, along with school employees and those with certain medical conditions. The Summit County lottery will continue to pull names from those on the vaccine registry, Skoda said, and people do not need to sign up again.

Once selected, a person will get instructions by phone or email on how to schedule an appointment. More information is available on the health department’s website.