VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – The health department is warning people against sharing links to register for a vaccine appointment.
Last week in Norfolk, Chopper 10 flew over a clinic that shut down after too many people showed up, many of whom used links to register that were not originally sent to them.
Officials in Richmond say they’re working on a fix that would prevent links from being used by more than one person.
In the meantime, Paul Brummund, chief operating officer for Norfolk and Virginia Beach’s health departments, says staff are cracking down.
When an email goes out telling a resident it’s their turn to register for a vaccine appointment, it now includes a warning that those who get caught sharing or using shared links will have their appointments canceled and be bumped to the bottom of the 60,000-person line.
Brummund said since the warning was added to emails, the problem has diminished.
Still, he says people should understand that what may seem like a shortcut for them slows down the process for everyone else.
“If you had a person who received that link, I would say illegally or inappropriately or unethically, and they made an appointment […] in a lot of the cases, we canceled the clinic,” Brummund said. “We rescheduled the appointments for those whose got taken away by people who did it improperly.”