Vaccine Phone Registration Open For Pinellas, Online Suspended

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Server issues and phone system issues at the Pinellas County Health Department Monday upset thousands of seniors in the area who expected an easy COVID-19 registration process.

As of Tuesday morning, the Pinellas County Health Department said they have a temporary registration method in place for seniors. As they work to resolve the online issues on their website and temporarily suspend this registration option, the call center is accepting registration phone calls.

The Pinellas County Health Department has provided the following instructions for seniors to register by phone:

• People 65 and older can call (727) 824-6900 and select option 4 or call (727) 824-6931.
• From there, an operator will ask for specific information including name, phone number and date of birth. The operator will then work with callers to get them scheduled for a date, time and location for their first dose of vaccine.
• Please note that due to high call volume, wait times may be longer than expected.

People who were able to register online Monday will have their appointments honored, the department said in a news release.

Unfortunately, someone set up a fraudulent Eventbrite account that charged seniors for vaccine registration, according to health department officials. The Pinellas County Health Department reminds seniors that it is free to register for a vaccine appointment, and when online registration is open again to make sure you are registering on the Pinellas County Health Department website.

"Anyone who has made an appointment through the fraudulent Eventbrite site does not have a valid reservation for a vaccination at the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County," the health department tweeted. "However, schedulers will work with those individuals to get them onto the schedule."