News

Health Department to return some voicemail messages and offer vaccine

By Lightning Reports, Published: January 27, 2021

The Henderson County Health Department plans to call some of the people who left voice mail messages last Wednesday and offer them Covid-19 vaccine appointments. The call center will not be open for incoming calls today. And the health department only has enough vaccine doses this week to reach around 14 percent of the number of people who left messages.

The Health Department received enough vaccine this week from the state to make 360 first dose appointments, spokesman Andrew Mundhenk said in response to questions from the Lightning. Last Wednesday morning, the health department's phone center inadvertently sent more than 2,000 calls to voice mail instead of queuing them on hold to be answered.

"Instead of opening up the call center for appointments we decided to call back everyone who left a voicemail stemming from Wednesday’s early morning technical glitch, verify if they were eligible and ask if they still needed an appointment," he said in an email. "There were 2,500 voicemails in all. About 2,100 indicated they still needed an appointment. Those individuals were placed on a list to be contacted once vaccine supply becomes available. The Call Center will open Wednesday morning to call individuals on that list to make 360 first dose appointments."