Confusion, frustration over vaccine appointments

An Edmonds man finally got a vaccination appointment, only to get a text days later that appeared to cancel the appointment.

Phil Schroeder, 68, had a liver transplant and has been hiding out at home for almost a year so he wouldn’t catch COVID-19.

“If I catch it, I probably won’t recover,” said Schroeder.

His wife echoed the concern. “We’re scared, that’s all. With the new variant around it’s worse,” said Sandra Schroeder, 73.

After trying for hours, Phil Schroeder was able to get an appointment at University of Washington Medicine to get vaccinated. UW Medicine is also where he had a liver transplant 16 years ago.

The appointment was set for Feb. 10. He was relieved. Days later, he received a text. “They texted me last night and said they even canceled that,” said Phil Schroeder.

This is the text he received: “This is UW Medicine. Due to lack of vaccine supply, we have stopped scheduling first-dose appointments. We will resume appts when more vaccine supply is available in this state ...”

He was so frustrated, he asked KIRO7 for help.

But when KIRO7 looked into this, we confirmed he still has an appointment. UW Medicine said it has not canceled any appointments.

Schroeder likely got that text connected with one of his other attempts to sign up through the website, causing confusion in an already stressful situation.

UW Medicine told KIRO7:

“At this time, we are not scheduling new appointments for first-dose COVID-19 vaccinations due to a lack of supply. We will resume scheduling new first-dose appointments when we have a stable supply of vaccine from the state. We understand that this is disappointing for those who are waiting to receive their first COVID-19 vaccination and appreciate your patience.”

Sandra Schroeder is 73. She’s been trying to make an appointment at the Swedish vaccine clinic at Seattle University. Swedish had to pause the clinic because its vaccine allocation was sent somewhere else. Schroeder stayed up one night, checking every hour, hoping new appointments would be made.

Phil Schroeder is looking forward to his Feb. 10 appointment. He hoped he could bring his wife along and see if she could get vaccinated at the same time, but UW Medicine says each patient needs to have their own appointment.

Cox Media Group