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Seniors in Wayne County frustrated over COVID-19 vaccine process

COVID-19 vaccine
Posted at 5:21 AM, Feb 23, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-23 12:42:11-05

(WXYZ) — Appointments for seniors in Wayne County to get the COVID-19 vaccine are gone, as phone lines were overwhelmed in six locations throughout the county.

On Monday, appointments opened up for those 65 and in at several Wayne County communities, but the process left people beyond frustrated.

Most callers got busy signals and couldn't even leave a voicemail.

"Nope, I just keep pressing redial, and I keep getting the same message," Janet Verdi from Canton said.

One viewer said he called over 700 times from the moment the Canton office opened. Another said she and her husband were both hitting redial on their cell phones, and then also used a land-line, calling for three hours, only to get a recording.

The call center for Plymouth-Canton said they got around one million calls for the 1,000 doses.

Mitch Albom of Say Detroit made it clear the intention was to make things easier not harder

"The information flow isn't easy, the access isn't easy, and we wanted to make sure that people who really need this vaccine can get it," Albom said.

Six-hundred doses will be given to seniors in Highland Park. In all, Wayne County had 13,000 doses to divide up to hospitals and drug stores – each have their own appointment systems in place as well

Additional Coronavirus information and resources:

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