Busy phone lines and crashed websites: Bay Area seniors hit hurdles in race to get vaccinated - San Francisco Chronicle

But on Thursday, they were greeted not with needles or appointments, but with busy phone lines, overwhelmed websites and physicians who said they had little idea when they’d be able to give their senior patients vaccinations.

They had better luck than Sutter Health patients, who said they found the phone lines were down, along with the health care provider’s website.

And Stanford Health Care patients said their website and mobile phone apps were operating, but offered scant information about vaccination availability for seniors.

A Sutter Health spokeswoman acknowledged Thursday night that phone lines were overwhelmed and the website problems are being investigated, though both are working.

"At this time, Sutter is prioritizing the state’s most vulnerable populations including those who are 75-plus years of age and our community health care workers," spokeswoman Angeline Sheets said.

“We have almost finished vaccinating our health care workers,” she said.

On Friday, she said, “we are starting with our primary care patients aged 75 and over, and hope to move to patients age 65 to 74 soon.”.

San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney said the city is erring by relying on health care providers — hospitals and doctors — to provide the inoculations.

Instead, to ensure that vaccines get into arms faster, he said the city’s health department should launch mass immunization sites at places like stadiums, arenas, parking lots and parks, as other cities have done.

A representative from San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management said the health department is vaccinating patients over 65 in the city’s health network in two clinics.

“As more vaccine comes available, this will be scaled to other clinics,” the representative said, adding that the city is “working with private health care providers” to find additional facilities and accelerate vaccination.

Niraj Sehgal, Chief Medical Officer for Stanford Health Care said in a statement?