Publix Vaccine Website
 

Just spent an hour on this website trying t get a nearby appt. It took 40 minutes to let me on the site to fill out an application--then when I was ready to confirm they said someone had beat me to it. Only Deland had times available. Even if I could have got one then I would have then had to try to find a time for my wife. This whole thing is a terrible bad joke!

Did anyone ever see Mulberry or even Bellview this time. Only saw Ocala locations in Marion County and every time you picked an available time you were told it had already been taken and you had to go back and renter info, losing valuable time. With the exception of Palm Beach County, which started with almost 10,000 available, everything was about gone by 7am.

I went on at 6am and didn't even get that far to fill out form. Page just kept refreshing as I sat there and watched Marion and Citrus Counties numbers going down, down, down.

If you got on, you were the luck ones. At least as other folks get the vaccine it should help our immunity a bit....one would hope

Publix Awful
 

I signed on this morning and was lucky enough to get in with about 50 Marion County immunizations remaining. I filled out the forms and the last page displayed the remaining open appointments. I chose a time and date and the message said I had completed the process. Then a screen came up with my information and a red notice that there was one item in error. It said the time requested was taken. It then returned me to the initial application page and locked me out. Who writes these programs?

That was a waste of 1-1/2 hours this morning on the Publix web site. How far are you willing to drive to get a jab?

The Publix system is getting worse, not better. I already got my first shot, But I have been trying to schedule an appointment for others.

You can register your phone number with the new Lake County system by calling 866-201-6909. They say that they will call you to make an appointment on the phone. The vaccine location is the Lake Square Mall in Leesburg.

I was able to get in this morning and was able to get an appointment for my wife and I. I had looked at the TOTV post titled "A "Gambler’s Guide" :) to Booking a Vaccination with Publix" and used that as a guide to prepare "IF" I was able to get in. Had also printed a list of stores from the Publix website and selected a store in Ocala that looked to be a little way from any of the big retirement communities (e.g. The Villages, Top of the World, and Del Webb) where I thought a lot of people would select because it would be close to them.

Logged onto the Publix web site with a laptop, and 2 tablets about 5:55 am. Watched the screen refresh every minute until got the sign in link on one of the tablets. Nice thing is that once you go through the process and book an appointment, it allows you to book another one for your spouse right away. Was done around 6:40 am. Almost better than winning that big lottery, but that would have been nice too!!! Good Luck to everyone who couldn't get an appointment today.

I got my first shot at Publix in Deland on Monday and they gave me an appointment for exactly four weeks at the same time.

Did you not get the little card?

I went on at 6:30 last Friday morning. I waited about 45 minutes for the site to open. There were appointments available in Ocala but while I fiddled around trying to figure out which one was closest they were taken. I took an appointment on Monday in Deland which was about an hour's drive. I thought the site worked pretty well and didn't mind the hour's drive. Got my shot, and got a card saying that I had a shot with an appointment for exactly four weeks at the same time and place. Everything went very smoothly.

My advice to everyone is Be Prepared before you log onto the Publix web site. Because once you finally get a chance to sign in, you are in a race to get an appointment booked before everyone else in Florida. And because this state has more seniors which are eligible for the vaccine now, you are in a race against a LOT of people. I took the advice from the TOTV post titled "A "Gambler’s Guide" to Booking a Vaccination with Publix" and used that as a guide to prepare "IF" I was able to get in. I also printed a list of stores from the Publix website and selected a store in Ocala that looked to be away from the big retirement communities with a LOT of senior that you are competing with (e.g. The Villages, Top of the World, and Del Webb). I thought a lot of people would select the close stores because it would be near to them. There are 2 Publix stores near Silver Springs which I considered and I chose Heather Island Plaza. Volusia county had a lot of vaccine appointments available when I started, but I was concerned that all of the people along the coast would be trying to get into one of those.

Yes, I got the card and an appointment in exactly 4 weeks at the same store, also near Deland.

There is a separate thread, but I'm reposting here to try to help as many people as possible get on the Publix site. Next opportunity is on Friday, 1/29 at 6 AM. The site actually opened up a few minutes before 6 today.

A Gambler’s Guide to Booking a Vaccination with Publix
January 24, 2021 – Update January 27 below

This post is based on personal experience and those of others interested in helping people get vaccinated.

The website:
COVID-19 Vaccine in Florida | Publix Super Markets

Current Notice on Website: “All available COVID-19 vaccine appointments have been claimed. There is tremendous demand for the vaccine and a limited supply, so check back on Wednesday, January 27 after 6:00 a.m. EST (5:00 a.m. CST) for your next opportunity.”

Big picture:
1. Be prepared to wait up to two hours if you get lucky enough to get to a sign-up page. On Wednesday 1/20, I was lucky enough to be let in at 6:45. The 24,400 spots were fully booked at about 7:45 with 250,000 applicants that day, according to Publix. The odds: 10:1. Many did not get to the sign-up page at all.

2. On Friday, 1/22, I was let into a sign-up page at 7:39. There were 48,900 sign up spots available, with more than 300,000 users. The odds improved to 6:1, but most users did not get to the sign up site again.

3. Scan the Publix locations. Decide how far you are willing to travel and possibly even select stores before you attempt to register. If you think about it during the sign up process, you will lose time. If you’re a data nerd, consider population per store and income per capita of the county.

All Stores with vaccines are listed here:
https://www.publix.com/covid-vaccine...store-list.pdf

4. Given the difficulty of getting out of the queue and onto a sign up page, use multiple browsers. Be prepared to abandon all but one browser if you get to the sign up page and concentrate on filling out that form as quickly as possible.

Details:
1. Spinning the wheel: Sign onto the website a little before 6 and hit the refresh button frequently. THE INITIAL TIMING IS CRITICAL, since only a small number of people are let into the sign-up portal at a time. Here is an official twitter statement from Publix on that point:
“We are limiting the number of people in our reservation system to ensure our site remains stable. Our waiting page refreshes every minute while more people are let in to book their appointments.”
Translation: If you don’t get in initially, there will probably be a long wait if you get in at all.

2. Refreshing: Assuming you are not taken to a sign up page, Publix says not to refresh the page manually. Their twitter statement is “We do not recommend refreshing the page manually.” It is followed by the boilerplate above: “We are limiting the number of people in our reservation system to ensure our site remains stable. Our waiting page refreshes every minute while more people are let in to book their appointments.”

The implication is that the original queue is maintained, but some stories point to wild luck.

3. Counties: The list of counties on the main page will indicate if appointments are still available, but that’s an indicator only. The counties will never turn into live links. It’s frustrating, but unavoidable, to see the status go from “Appointments Available“ to “Fully Booked” while you’re in the queue.

4. Entry Notification: If and when the system allows you to register, you will be notified by a rectangular icon just BELOW the county list. DO NOT MAKE THE (COMMON) MISTAKE of waiting for an invitation on the county list or for a county to turn into an active link.

5. Personal Information: You are then asked for personal information. You should rush through this, since your spot is NOT CONFIRMED UNTIL YOU GET ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE SIGN UP PROCESS. Since you may re-enter this section if your selected time slot isn’t available, auto-fill helps.

You are asked for the usual personal information: name, address, phone, birth date, and email address (where they send a confirmation). You are also asked if you if you are a “Publix Associate and have a Medicare number. Say “no” to save time, since you can present it at your appointment.

6. County: The county selection is next. Caveat: Once you pick a county, you are then asked to pick a store within that county, and a date and a time for that store. The selection of the county is the first part of a string. Be prepared to be taken back to this point if your selection is unavailable by the time you get to the end of the registration process. Think about ways to improve your odds. What is the least likely county, store, date and time others would choose? For example, we noticed that counties and stores in the panhandle tended to have greater odds.

7. Store: The store selection is next. Again, the closest is not necessarily the one most likely to have available spots.

8. Time and date: You will then be offered a date. Consider choosing a date farther out or one you think is least selected. Same for appointments times, which comes next. Remember you will ultimately compete against others within that same time slot.

9. Health questions: You are then asked 14 health questions. Here is the exact list to allow you to move through the list quickly. NOTE: They should not be all “NO” answers.

H1. Emergency Contact Name
H2. Emergency Contact Number
H3. Are you 18 years of age or older? - YES!
H4. Do you have a cold, fever, or acute illness?
H5. Do you have any allergies to medications, food, or any vaccine? If yes, please list.
H6. Are you allergic to chicken eggs or egg products?
H7. Are you allergic to Thimerosal (cleaning products or contact lens solution)?
H8. Have you ever had a serious reaction after receiving a vaccination?
H9. Have you ever been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome?
H10. Do you have a seizure, brain, or nerve problem?
H11. Are you the patient? If no, enter your name and relationship to the patient. - YES!
H12. Are you attending a clinic? If yes, please enter location.
H13. Would you like to be notified about other immunizations?
H14. Have you already received an initial dose of the COVID-19 vaccine?

10. Review and confirm: You then review and confirm the information you entered.

11. Consent form: Not done yet! You are then asked to acknowledge a consent form.

12. Not a Robot: You are then asked to prove you are not a robot. This may involve the usual stop lights and buses but is only asked once in case you have to repeat the process.

13. Submit! Only at this point does the system decide if the selected time is still available.

14. Confirmation page: If you made the cutoff, you are presented with a confirmation page which has a “print” option towards the top. Printing is recommended, since the emailed confirmation will only have a code on it for privacy reasons.

15. Time not available: If your time was not available, you are taken back to picking a county (step #6 above). Note that you will have to enter the medical information over again! SUGGESTION: Think about the strategy for retries (county, store, date, time) to make repeated selections as efficient as possible.

16. Additional people: If you do get a confirmation, you have the opportunity to “Book another appointment” at the bottom of the appointment confirmation page.
You now start at step 5 (see above) by entering the second individual’s personal information. You do not have to wait in the queue again.

XXXXXXXXXXX

January 27 Update
I plan to continue to try to help people sign up. Feel free to PM me for specific thoughts or questions.

I was able to sign more people up today (Wedn 1/27). The system opened shortly before 6 AM and all counties were “fully booked” by 7:28. St John's started out with about 2,000 doses and was "fully booked" at 7:12. Volusia County, the next best County to the south, started with about 3,200 doses and was "fully booked" by 7:05.

Several new observations that may be helpful to those still trying to book (next window is Friday, 1/29):

1. Publix made 2 very helpful modifications to the website: They added a counter to the top of the page (see attached) so you know the system is automatically refreshing and when. It refreshes every minute. They also added the number of appointments left in each county. Both are helpful improvements.

You also know that you are eligible to sign up (you have left the queue) when you don't see the counter any more. At that time, scroll down to the bottom and click the bold "BOOK AN APPOINTMENT" box (see attached).

2. I used 3 browsers on two devices. I got in on one device at 6:15 and was able to sign up a number of people. I never got in on the other two browsers.

3. After booking the first person, I was shown a red circle with a line through it at the "SUBMIT" button at the very end. No explanation. Tried different times and different pharmacies without success.

I then closed that browser down completely and just for kicks reopened it. After a minute, it allowed me to sign on, even though the other two browsers on the other device were still queued. I heard similar mysteries from others.

Morals:
a. Try to use different browsers on different devices. It seems the entry to the sign up portal is random at this time.

b. If you should ever get that red circle at the end of the application to "Submit," just reload the page and (ouch) start over.


For gamblers:
If you see plenty of spots available and the system is not letting you sign up, consider starting over. That's against Publix advice, but you may have little to lose by getting into a different (and new) queue.


Obviously, it's best to hedge your bets with multiple devices.

Please see the comments I posted earlier regarding that dreaded red circle when you submit! Was that during your first attempt? or were you trying to register the second person?

We have been sitting tight since March of 2020 and see no need to participate in the race to get a shot during the lack of supply period....hence we will wait until adequate vaccine is available....
more like March/April.