Riverside County Albertsons stores temporarily stop accepting appointments for Covid-19 vaccinations

UPDATE:

A representative for Albertsons tells News Channel 3 the grocer is no longer setting appointments for vaccinations at their stores in Riverside County because they are fully booked through the end of January.

She said all doses the company has received are accounted for.

She also said the company is working to get more doses from Riverside County and did not know when the company might receive more.

INITIAL REPORT:

Indio resident Andy Ano is among those who received the vaccine Thursday at a Rancho Mirage Albertsons after successfully using the county website RUHealth.org Wednesday to sign up.

"We originally tried to get it out at the Indio Fairgrounds but those were booked instantly," said Ano.

But others had issues trying to make appointments, including La Quinta resident Randy Foulds.

While using the county site to sign up his 85-year-old mother for an appointment at the Indio Fairgrounds, he spent 15 minutes filling out information online only to find out the desired date and time was not available.

"I was on my iPad, I knew appointments would fill up fast so I tired to fill out all on the forms on the iPad and it was very difficult." said Foulds.

Ultimately Foulds was able to secure an appointment at Albertsons by clicking the link on the county site for "Community Partners".

Indio teacher Luann Mastropolito used the link to sign up for an appointment at Ralph's.

"I was able to sign up on the Ralph's site for next Tuesday," said Matropolito.

But her friend later tried to do the same but said the Ralph's site was "down".

One viewer we spoke with tells us over the course of an hour … she tried repeatedly to reach a Ralph's pharmacy by phone but was only greeted by busy signals.

Mastropolito also expresed concerns with seniors who are less able or less webs savvy to successfully navigate setting appointments online and providing required documents.

"You had to take pictures front and back of your medical ID card and then you had to upload it. Now I know there are a lot of wonderful teachers that i worked with that couldn't do that," said Mastropolito.

A representative for Ralph's tells News Channel 3 that vaccination appointments will be based solely on vaccine availability.

He also said the grocery chain was working with county health officials to acquire more doses.

Download the News Channel 3 app on the Apple Store or Google Play to get alerts on when new appointments or vaccine clinics are available.