CEDARVILLE, Ohio — With COVID-19 vaccines continuing to become available in Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine has revealed the state's plan to provide a one-stop location for residents to schedule their appointments.
During his coronavirus briefing on Tuesday, DeWine announced that the state is actively working on a centralized scheduling site. The governor says the first phase for launching the system has been completed as the site has been developed, is functional, and ready from a technical standpoint.
"Ohio chose to build its own system because the federal government’s system would not work for Ohio," explained DeWine.
The second phase of the launch of the site, according to DeWine, is aggressive outreach to vaccine providers to sign them up to participate in the state's central scheduling website and help them transition to the new system.
"Once we get most participating providers signed up, our third phase will be to make the site live to those seeking to be vaccinated," DeWine added.
DeWine says the goal is for Ohioans to have a positive customer experience making appointments when the site launches. Those interested in getting a vaccination will be able to put their zip code in and pull up appointments within 20 miles.
"We know that not everyone has access to the Internet, and we have called on our partners, including the Area Agencies on Aging, to help Ohioans navigate appointment scheduling," said DeWine.
DeWine says the Ohio Department of Health will work aggressively with providers in the next two to three weeks to get them to participate.
You can watch Gov. DeWine's Tuesday briefing in the player below:
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