Vaccine no-shows are complicating rollout

(Gloucester Township, NJ) –Officials at the Camden County Vaccination Center are urging residents to cancel their upcoming appointments if they receive their vaccination at another site. Failing to arrive at your scheduled appointment slows the rollout process and deprives someone else the opportunity to get their shot sooner than expected.

Commissioner Director, Louis Cappelli Jr., talked about the challenges with same day cancellations at the county run clinical operation.

“To be clear, no vaccine doses are going to waste, but we are seeing dozens of appointments go unused every day because people don’t show up and are not providing our health department the courtesy to cancel their pending appointment,” Cappelli said. “This lack of thoughtfulness by individuals who are shopping for appointments adds work to a staff that is already giving six days a week to get our community protected from this disease. Think about it, if you made a reservation at a restaurant or an appointment at your doctor’s office you’d call to say your plans had changed. We’re asking for the same common courtesy.”

In recent weeks, a growing number of patients have managed to secure earlier appointments at other sites in South Jersey thanks to an increase in vaccine providers but are often not cancelling their existing appointments at the Vaccination Center. These “no-shows” leave dozens of appointments unfilled when other patients could have been brought in earlier.

You can cancel an existing appointment through the MyCooper platform, or by calling (856) 549-0530. For more information regarding the Camden County Vaccination Center, please visit CamdenCountyVaccine.com.