State Website For COVID Vaccine Appointments Crashed This Morning

As about 1 million more people became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine Thursday morning, the state-run website that people must use to find and book most appointments has crashed and does not appear to allow residents to schedule vaccinations.

According to a story reported on by WWLP/22 News Springfield, the state’s COVID-19 Command Center was not immediately available to provide details, but people visiting the vaxfinder.mass.gov website after 8 a.m. Thursday were met with a message that “this application crashed.” Visitors were advised to try again later.

The official state government Twitter account posted around 8:45 a.m. the following message:

Due to high volume, vaxfinder.mass.gov is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Appointments at mass vaccination locations have not yet been posted today, but will be made available soon. More updates to follow.

When Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday that people 65 years old or older, the residents and staff of affordable and low-income housing for seniors, and people with two or more health conditions that put them at higher risk for hospitalization or death would be able to start booking vaccination appointments at 8 a.m. Thursday, it represented a doubling of the number of people currently eligible for the limited number of vaccine doses.

The interest was immediate, as well as the impact. When word of the governor’s announcement got out before his press conference, the website saw about 250,000 visits.

Baker said Wednesday that he thinks the vaccination appointment website “will be in good shape” for the added traffic Thursday morning.

The state also announced that as of 11:17 a.m., all appointments for next week at the mass vaccination sites in Springfield, Danvers, Natick, and Dartmouth have been fully booked. Other locations in the state will post more appointments throughout the day.

According to Mass.gov, the website was experiencing technical difficulties due to high volume and the appointments at the mass vaccination sites have not yet been posted but will be made available soon.

For more info on the story, visit WWLP/22 News' website here and also here. They will also continually update the story as new information becomes available. Thanks for the heads up, guys.