Unauthorized sharing of UK’s vaccine invitations leads to ‘few hundred’ signing up improperly
Some invitees to the University of Kentucky’s new vaccine clinic have shared their digital invitations and access codes online, potentially enabling others to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Kroger Field without being officially invited by the university, a spokesperson said Thursday.
“We understand that this sharing has likely been done with the best intentions; however, it’s important to understand what sharing an access code with individuals who have not been invited means for our vaccination team,” UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said in a statement.
People looking to get in line for the COVID-19 vaccine at UK should only do so via UK HealthCare’s official site: https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/covid-19/vaccine. Those who can’t access the online form or need assistance filling it out can call 859-218-0111.
Those who sign into UK’s vaccine system “and/or schedule an appointment” without an official, personal invitation from UK HealthCare will be removed from the system, have their vaccine appointment canceled or will be turned away at the Kroger Field site where healthcare workers and volunteers began vaccinating thousands against COVID-19 on Tuesday, Blanton said. The university has a “three-point verification system” in place to ensure that only those invited can be vaccinated.
“No one is getting vaccinated who should not,” Blanton said. “It’s simply an administrative issue we need to work through and communicate about.”
Information input via UK’s initial sign-up pages gets entered into a database where UK HealthCare can evaluate individual requests and issue emailed invitations based on the state’s phased plan.
Out of the thousands who have already signed up for the vaccine from UK only “a few hundred people” signed up without an invitation, Blanton said. Nearly 50,000 people signed up for the opportunity to get invited to a vaccine appointment through UK in the first day that sign-ups were enabled, UK officials said on Tuesday.
“Removing people who have not received invites on the backend takes away from time that could be spent vaccinating more people,” Blanton said.
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 1:39 PM.