FAIRFAX, VA- The Fairfax County Health Department will stop accepting registrations for the COVID-19 vaccine once eligibility opens up to the general adult population on Sunday (April 18).
Beginning Sunday, April 18, all individuals in the Fairfax Health District who are 16 or older will be eligible to directly schedule a vaccine appointment through VaccineFinder.org as Fairfax County moves into Phase 2 with the rest of Virginia. With this new system, Fairfax County will no longer accept registrations for the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to a blog post published Wednesday, county residents will instead be directed to Vaccine Finder to find approved providers, including the county health department, pharmacies, hospitals, and private practices. They will then need to schedule appointments directly with the provider.
Clinics managed by the Health Department and some of its partners may not be listed on that site until late April or early May due to available vaccine supply and the need to finish vaccinating those on our waitlist, FCHD says.
Everyone who is on our waitlist before it closes at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, April 17, will be contacted to schedule appointments within approximately one week. All other residents interested in obtaining a vaccine should utilize VaccineFinder, FCHD says.
According to a blog post, residents are encouraged to schedule an appointment on VaccineFinder with any provider based on the day, time and location that is most convenient for them. Be aware that each provider may have different processes to sign up to get an appointment. If you are on our current waitlist but get vaccinated by another provider, please remove yourself from our waitlist.
The county will still be responsible for distributing vaccine supplies to its partners, and it will schedule appointments for individuals remaining on its waitlist, which has about 23,000 people left as of 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, FCHD says.
However, the county’s registration system will be retired once everyone on the waitlist has been given an appointment.
The county says that its current registration system enabled it to prioritize residents based on the Virginia Department of Health’s established eligibility categories, but this will no longer be necessary when appointments are open to the general population in Phase 2 and the local health department no longer provides the primary community vaccination sites.
“In Phase 2, the larger pool of community vaccination sites allows us to shift to this new process, which will allow greater flexibility and choice of where residents receive their vaccine,” the FCHD says.
Created by Boston Children’s Hospital with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Digital Service, Vaccine Finder allows users to locate clinics, pharmacies, and other sites that are providing COVID-19 vaccinations, but it does not provide appointment scheduling, which must be done through the individual provider.
Because of the need to finish vaccinating everyone on the waitlist, the health department notes that its clinics and some of its partners may not be listed on Vaccine Finder until late April or early May.
“Everyone who is on our waitlist before it closes at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, April 17, will be contacted to schedule appointments within approximately one week,” the department said.
“We are excited to take the next step to Phase 2. While our scheduling in Phase 1 went well, I am confident that the new scheduling process in Phase 2 will help since everyone will become eligible,” says Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey C. McKay. “However, I want to set expectations. The high demand for vaccination in Fairfax County combined with the available vaccine supply will continue to be a challenge, especially in the initial weeks of Phase 2. With patience and care, we will get everyone vaccinated.”
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