Glitch in Henrico system allows thousands of ineligible people to register for COVID-19 vaccinations

A glitch in the computer program Henrico County officials used to register 10,800 people Thursday night for COVID-19 vaccinations next week inadvertently allowed thousands of ineligible people to register.

The system was designed to register school employees and public safety officials from Henrico, Hanover, Richmond and Goochland for mass-vaccination events at Richmond Raceway next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, which the county is organizing jointly with the Virginia Department of Health.

But because the platform was unable to differentiate between people who actually are in one of those groups and others who aren’t, more than 55% of those who registered actually were not eligible, Deputy Henrico County Manager Anthony McDowell told the Henrico Board of Supervisors Friday, during the first day of the board’s two-day retreat at the raceway.

McDowell took responsibility for the mistake but said that officials would be contacting everyone who registered to let them know either that they’ll need to re-register or that they weren’t actually eligible yet.

“I apologize,” he said. “It’s going to be tough for people to hear that they thought they were signed up but aren’t eligible. We’re going to have to notify them that the registration process went sideways.”

Officials from other localities sent the link Thursday evening to some of their employees, the Citizen has learned, and some of those employees then forwarded it to others and posted it online, where it was visible to employees and people from other localities, who then used it to register. Henrico County and the county's school system had not yet sent an official link to their employees, though those emails are expected to be sent later Friday.

McDowell also told supervisors that although county officials initially had expected to be able to provide initial vaccine doses to a total of 13,000 people next week, he now expects that number to be lower – a reality that could delay by one week the initial vaccination process for frontline county employees.

That’s because the state changed its guidelines Thursday, following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, to allow people 65 and older to be vaccinated in the second phase – meaning that more people will be eligible statewide, so the available doses in Virginia are likely to be spread more widely. (Previously, the phase had been designed for those 75 and older, in addition to various frontline workers.)

Originally, McDowell said, Henrico officials had expected 6,000 doses of vaccine for their own use next week, which combined with the 7,000 anticipated by the Virginia Department of Health, would have resulted in the 13,000 total.

Now, McDowell expects Henrico’s portion to be reduced to 4,000 next week. It’s unclear whether the VDH portion also might be reduced. During the following week, McDowell said, Henrico expects 8,000 doses, which should be enough to complete initial vaccinations for all county schools’, police, fire and hazmat officials who want them.

To complete a vaccination interest for for Phase 1A or 1B (or to learn if you are eligible), visit http://vax.rchd.com.