DES MOINES, Iowa — For weeks, Patty Hible would wake up every morning, log onto Facebook, her email, local public health departments' websites, and other sources searching for vaccine appointments for her husband.
Jim Hible is 66 years old, making him eligible in Iowa to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Patty thought when the vaccine was approved in December, getting a shot for her husband would be easy. It's been anything but in Iowa.
At one point, Patty stopped waking up early each day.
"I gave up," said Hible. "I couldn't start my days like this. There were so many overwhelming pieces of information given to you. 'Go here, do this, fill out this.'" It became too frustrating for me."
Iowa did not set up a centralized system to process registrations and take phone calls. State leaders left that up to local public health departments and health care providers. On Feb. 9, officials with the Iowa Department of Public Health approved Microsoft to create an online registration system for the vaccine.
But many Iowans are asking why such a system wasn't set up in the first place.
"It has been two months since they approved the vaccine and few states have come up with a satisfactory plan to administer them," said Rick Harrington of Fort Dodge. "It's just so frustrating and stressful navigating computer registrations that are only active a few minutes once a week. There has to be a better way and our local, state and federal governments have failed miserably in administering the program."
In Boone, Lyla Clayton has been on the phone for weeks, calling around local pharmacies and the county health department to find a vaccine appointment for herself. She's a cancer survivor and is worried if she catches coronavirus, she will die.
"We've had friends die from this that were way younger and in a lot better health than me," said Clayton. "I'm scared."
Clayton said she called the Boone County Hospital this week, trying to book an appointment. They open up slots for 300 appointments every Wednesday morning. In 15 minutes, all slots were booked.
"I called and called and called," said Clayton. "And when I tried to get through, it hung up on me. So I had to call back again."
The hospital's CEO, Joe Smith, told Local 5 they've been having issues with the phone system hanging up on people. The hospital is contracting with a call center to build up a new program for a better customer experience.
"But the problem remains the same," said Smith. "There is more demand for the vaccine than doses available."
Up in northwestern Iowa, Lori Brown has been researching for vaccine appointments for her parents who are in their 80's.
"I called their provider, they didn't have the vaccine," said Brown. "Their pharmacy is Wal-mart, they don't have the vaccine. There's no list that you can be on. I looked on the local health department website, they didn't have anything. So yeah, it's pretty much up to me or these other elderly people's kids to try to figure out this."
Brown found out about the local Hy-Vee offering the vaccine in a roundabout way.
"My friend texted me that she had found out from a friend who had found out from a friend about Hy-Vee," said Brown. "It was a fluky, random, hearsay kind of thing."
Many Iowans have told Local 5 in conversations over the last few weeks that it felt like they were in some sort of game to find a vaccine appointment.
"I don't personally know anyone who has had the vaccine. I would love to be able to get it and not have to worry about it any longer," said Clayton.