Miami-Dade’s vaccination website has a big shortcoming. County planning a fix soon

A week after Miami-Dade County launched online registration for a vaccine waiting list, instructions on the portal still only cater to English speakers.

The county site run by the private firm Nomi Health launched on Feb. 4 as a clearinghouse for anyone seeking a COVID-19 vaccine from Miami-Dade. Previously, Miami-Dade would take reservations as COVID-19 vaccines became available, granting appointments on a first-come, first-served basis.

Now, anyone seeking a vaccine can register on the new site and be contacted when vaccine slots are available. But while county-run websites on COVID-19 and community vaccination information can toggle to Spanish and Creole translations, the Nomi site where people actually register for the waiting list only provides instructions in English.

Census figures estimate about 75% of Miami-Dade residents speak a language other than English when at home.

Regalado: Add Spanish, Creole to Miami-Dade vaccination site

In a Feb. 9 memo to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Commissioner Raquel Regalado urged the county to expand the registration website to Spanish and Creole. To rely on pre-registration, Regalado wrote, “it is necessary that the program be accessible to our most vulnerable residents, who likely are not fluent in English.”

Rachel Johnson, the county’s communications director, said the Miami-Dade call center for the waiting list (call 305-614-2014) already has a Spanish dial-in menu and Creole speakers ready to help. “We are working now to expand the pre-registration [online] system to other languages,” she said.

A Nomi representative, Daisy Cabrera, said Spanish and Creole options should be available by the end of the week.

The new waiting-list site produced some glitches at the start, but Cabrera and Johnson said those should mostly be fixed. One common complaint was the rejection of some Miami-Dade addresses that didn’t use Miami as a city. Johnson said early filters for residency were adjusted to end the faulty rejections.

Nomi running vaccine registrations in Miami-Dade

Nomi is a Utah company that’s been providing COVID testing services for Miami-Dade throughout 2020 and into 2021. The contract extended to vaccine distribution, with Nomi staffing the county vaccination site at Tropical Park, which is limited to people 65 and over with appointments.

Those appointments now come through the Nomi registration site. The Levine Cava administration recently won approval for a $5 million payment to Nomi as part of a batch of emergency vendor approvals related to COVID.

The company also has provided COVID-19 testing to foreign consulates across Miami. Nomi has a string of COVID contracts across the country, and has drawn scrutiny in Tennessee and elsewhere over its work. Nomi says it has provided COVID supplies, testing and services quickly and competently under emergency conditions.

Cabrera, the Nomi representative, said one complaint in Miami likely involves user error. Once someone has registered for the site, they should receive an email with a link to confirm the address.

That link can only be used once. If clicked a second time, it registers an error message. She said Nomi was updating the error language to be less confusing.

The site has been busy. In a letter Tuesday to Gov. Ron DeSantis asking for more Miami-Dade vaccine supplies, Levine Cava said more than 60,000 people had registered.

Who is eligible for the vaccine waiting list?

While aimed at seniors currently eligible for Florida vaccines — people 65 and over — the site is actually open to people of all ages who want to be vaccinated.

The Levine Cava administration said people not eligible for vaccines are basically being added to a mailing list, and will receive updates in the future. Johnson said people under the age of 65 who register in advance won’t have early access to vaccine appointments once eligibility rules expand.

“The universe will be opened to the public as well, to register at the same time,” she said. “We’ll sort or reset the entire pool.”

Levine Cava said the broader registration will help Miami-Dade gauge how much demand exists for the vaccine in younger age groups, and that the county plans to use contact information to promote vaccinations directly as supply increases.

“We know who is interested in the vaccine, so when the opportunity becomes available, we know who to contact,” she said.

This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 5:58 PM.