To minimize complications, the District asks residents not to register if they're not yet eligible.
WTOP News reported recently that the District is set to launch its new COVID-19 vaccine preregistration website on Wednesday, March 10. To register for the vaccine, eligible residents should use the website—vaccinate.dc.gov—or call 1-855-363-0333. The website breaks down what you can expect after preregistering on the website:
"If you are pre-registered and in an eligible population, you may be contacted via email or phone beginning Friday, March 12 to book one of the 14,680 appointments being made available this week through the portal and call center. Due to limits on available appointments, it may take weeks for you to receive an invitation to book an appointment."
This infographic from the District clarifies how the vaccine will be doled out.
From there, WTOP explains, "after receiving an invitation, people will have 48 hours to book an appointment. If a resident misses the 48-hour window to book an appointment, their name goes back into the preregistration list and they will have wait until they’re selected by the system again, which can happen up to three times before someone has to reregister."
As for the tech glitches that have plagued vaccine rollout?
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said, "What we can tell people is that we’re doing the best we can to make the technology match the very high demand. And what we’re also doing is hopefully ensuring that they won’t have to encounter it week after week."
D.C. Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt said that glitches can potentially be avoided if everybody doesn't "rush to the website at one time. That’s the process. That’s the reason for establishing a preregistration system. There’s no advantage to a person registering now who’s not eligible."
Chief Technology Officer Lindsey Parker further explained, "Anytime there are a number of people hitting one website at the exact same time, which is what we’ve seen for the past few weeks, Thursdays and Fridays at 9 a.m., a spike of you … call it 200,000 people hitting the site at the exact same time pressing refresh from multiple different devices, you’re always going to have a slight lag, where you’re going to need to ensure that that load on the system is able to be balanced accordingly. So what we’re hoping to do with this pre registration system is flatten that spike."
You can check out the full report here. And let us know what your experience is with the preregistration process!
