A technical error in the state’s Covid-19 vaccine registration for children earlier this week made it impossible to schedule appointments for children who are Black, Indigenous or people of color, who are already disproportionately affected by the virus.
Adults who were already registered as identifying as BIPOC or living with someone who does received an error message if they tried to add a dependent on the state’s Covid-19 portal, said Ben Truman, a spokesperson for the Department of Health. The same was true for people who tried adding a dependent who identified as BIPOC, he said. Both issues prevented people from moving forward and registering children for the vaccine.
The problem was fixed Wednesday evening, according to a news release sent Thursday evening apologizing for the issue.
“We acknowledge the real impact this has on the health and well-being of Vermonters of color, who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and other health conditions, and who have experienced historic injustices,” the statement said.
Truman said he did not know how many people tried to register a child and received an error message.
“We do know the primary population impacted were Vermonters who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color,” he said.
The system rolled out by the state previously gave people the ability to get vaccinated sooner if they identified as BIPOC or lived in a household where at least one person did. That was not implemented for this round of registration for children ages 5 to 11.
The state vendor that programs the vaccine registration “prematurely deployed code that affected the eligibility screen when one added a dependent,” Truman said. “The system was being set to allow for specific vaccination events as we had earlier in our pandemic response, but that portion was not yet complete.”
Because the code routed to an “incomplete portion” for this round of registration, it created an error message when people tried to move forward after saying that you or at least one person in your household identifies as BIPOC, Truman said in an email.
Vermont opened vaccine registration to children ages 5 to 11 on Wednesday morning. Residents were directed to the registration system that had the error until it was fixed Wednesday night.
In August, the health department examined data on Covid-19 cases from March 5, 2020, through Aug. 11, 2021, and estimated that for Black children, the rate of Covid-19 cases is nearly 1,000 cases per 10,000 people, compared with 370 for white children.
Black adult Vermonters had a rate of 937 positive cases per 10,000 people, compared with 359 cases per 10,000 white adult Vermonters.
The statement and apology this week said that children of color ages 5 to 11 would be prioritized through “BIPOC youth-focused clinics” and “finding partners to conduct culturally and linguistically responsive education and outreach with the communities they serve.”
The department is addressing the issue, in part, by “working on ways to set up additional appointments and move appointments to an earlier date since the technical glitch may have resulted in pushing these individuals into later-date appointments,” the statement read.
The department also used data to place school-based clinics in districts with more students of color.
As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, more than 13,000 appointments were made for children 5-11 years old throughout the state, Truman said.
Correction: An earlier version of the headline on this article overstated the timeframe that BIPOC children were unable to register for the vaccine.
To register for a vaccine appointment or get information on walk-in clinics, visit healthvermont.gov/MyVaccine or call 855-722-7878.
You will be asked to provide your name, date of birth, address, email (if available), phone number, and health insurance information (if available, but not required).
