UMC registrations for 4,000 vaccinations filled up in 5 minutes

UPDATE: All of University Medical Center's latest 4,000 vaccination appointments were booked in just over five minutes of online registration going live at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

A spokesman said the UMC website had an estimated 33,000 people who tried to log on to it when registration opened.

ORIGINAL REPORT: EL PASO, Texas -- University Medical Center of El Paso said it would hold appointment registration Tuesday at 6 p.m. for 4,000 first doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccination that were just received.

Registration will open at 6 p.m. at UMCelpaso.org for those in state vaccination categories 1A, 1B and 1C, which includes school and childcare personnel, healthcare workers, first-responders, anyone 50 years of age and older or others with certain underlying health conditions.

A UMC spokesman said it's anticipated, similarly to past registration events, that all 4,000 vaccination appointments will be filled within minutes.

The UMC website will only accept registrations until all open appointments are scheduled. After that point, the site will close access.

In addition, UMC will be holding a special telephone appointment registration Thursday at 9 a.m. for seniors without internet access.

At that time, seniors can register by calling 915-200-2700. The telephone number will close after available appointments (725 via phone) are taken on Thursday.

These may be UMC's last registration events as they work toward a consolidated registration process along with the City of El Paso that is expected to be ready soon.