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Customers Say They Cannot Schedule First COVID-19 Vaccine Dose At Walgreens Because Second Dose Appointments Unavailable

CHICAGO (CBS) -- More than 100,000 doses of the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine are heading to Illinois and are expected to arrive on Wednesday. But while the number of doses delivered is increasing, it seems for many it is a never-ending battle trying to register for the vaccine.

Social media is flooded with people who say Walgreens has them on an emotional rollercoaster, often ending in disappointment.

Annie Azriel is an angel for the elderly, navigating online vaccine appointments for neighbors of a certain age, folks raised more on "information stagecoach" than superhighway.

"They don't know the internet," she said. "They're 60, 70, 80, 90 years old. Moving quickly on the internet is not something that they're good at."

But those like Annie who are good at it are finding a pothole on that highway.

"It says there's appointments available. Yay, there's appointments available," she said

But at the top of the screen it shows it is to book dose one of the vaccine. In order to complete any dose one appointment, one must also book dose two. And when a user advances for dose two -- nothing.

"It brings you to a screen that says nothing is available," Azriel said.

That is what thousands are walking away with.

"When I talk to the seniors, they're like, 'We're going in circles. We're going in circles,'" Azriel said.

Walgreens did not answer CBS 2 calls or emails. There is nothing on their website.

There are just some random Twitter replies: "We apologize for the system issues," "This has been escalated to our tech team," and "We are working to get this resolved."

They offer a phone number that when Azriel calls proves another waste of 20 minutes.

"Be honest, be open. 'We're having an issue. We're having a technical glitch,'" she said.

The lack of honesty is creating a glut of wasted time that could be avoided if Walgreens would maybe give transparency a shot.

"People would just stop trying to go in the rabbit hole," Azriel said.

There are a lot of theories as to why this may be happening. With Johnson & Johnson coming online not all appointments will need two shots. Maybe they are just short on second shots. But there are not a lot of answers.

Azriel said she has had good experiences setting up appointments with Jewel and Cancer Centers of America and CVS is starting to come online.

Find more information on where to get vaccines here:

Wal-Mart | Walgreens | CVS | Jewel-Osco | Kroger | Mariano's | Meijer | Zocdoc | Hy-Vee | Illinois Health Department Indiana Health Department

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