Website meltdown shows how Manatee County has failed public on vaccines | Letter to the editor

Is Manatee County really so inept at coming up with a way to distribute the coronavirus vaccine? Local government had at least a month to devise the most efficient way to get the vaccine to as many people as possible. The best they could do is a sign-up system that crashes the Manatee County government website.

Monday was the second time people could sign up for the vaccine. The website told us to to log in at 1 p.m. and sign up to receive the vaccine at a drive up center.

So many seniors have attempted to log on the Manatee County government home page that it has crashed. The federal government was worried that people would be afraid to receive the vaccine. People are more than willing but as usual, Florida is unable to process the demand. Once again we are laughing stock of the national media.

A second problem is the same one that many of us encountered with the COVID-19 testing centers. “Drive-up” assumes that we all have access to automobiles. Surely officials realize that with the average age and the poverty in this county, we can’t assume everyone has a car. If I’m incorrect, why is the Manatee County Transit system so busy in Palmetto and Bradenton?

I ask the editors of the Bradenton Harold to take the county government to task for their ineptitude. There are other ways they could handle the distribution of the vaccine. One would be to get the vaccine into the hands of clinics and personal physicians. Most people over 65 have ways to reach their doctors.

Since the media has power, I hope you can help us.

Rebecca S. Coates

Bradenton