Vaccination Portal Received Over 1 Million Hits in One Hour
Written by Post Public Information Representative, Mar 3, 2021, 0 Comments
Laredo, TEXAS – Today, Wednesday, March 3, 2021, the City of Laredo opened its new vaccination scheduler/waitlist with 3,150 online appointments, of which 630 were separated for those who require telephone registration. Within the first hour, vaccinatelaredo.com received 1.4 million hits. The City of Laredo’s IST Department planned for a website capacity of 180,000 to 200,000, but the capacity was surpassed quickly.
The website counts each hit when someone refreshes the page, browser tabs, etc. This is the reason for the overcapacity on the website. All the appointments that were allotted filled up within three hours; due to the capacity limitation. As of 5:45pm a total of 6,584 people are on the waitlist, with an average of 35 new signups per minute. Those who were able to get an appointment will receive their first dose on Friday, March 5, 2021.
For those who were not able to set an appointment for the vaccine drive on Friday, March 5, the online portal will begin serving as a scheduler/waitlist system. This means the next persons in line will be notified when they are able to access the portal and schedule an appointment once more vaccine is receive. The City of Laredo Health Department will then begin contacting those who signed up for the waiting list via text or email with a link to set up an appointment. Once vaccine doses are obtained and administered, people who are next in line on the waiting list will be contacted when it is their turn to register for an appointment.
The online pre-registration portal will now be open 7 days a week, 24 hours, to register and be placed onto the waiting list. The community can also call 3-1-1 from Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.