New Jersey officials blame Microsoft glitches for vaccine scheduling issues

New Jersey officials are blaming Microsoft systems that were supposed to help vaccination efforts for allegedly glitching over the past five weeks, hindering the ability for a smooth vaccination rollout in the state. 

The state’s Microsoft system for running the vaccination rollout has had issues daily from booking appointments to losing registrations, state government officials told Bloomberg News. 

State officials blamed issues they said seem to stem from Microsoft not having enough employees staffed to deal with the issues and having employees in time zones that make them unavailable to help during business hours.

Vaccination rollout has been a major operation for states struggling to keep track of vaccinations and standardize strict guidelines for who medical facilities are allowed to vaccinate. 

Microsoft told Bloomberg that they know of some issues with the system in New Jersey, but did not comment further. 

“We are working with the state of New Jersey to deliver vaccinations as quickly, safely and efficiently as possible, and that includes addressing some technical issues,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Bloomberg.

Hospital and county websites have picked up the slack in New Jersey where the Microsoft system has failed, Bloomberg reported. More than 1.2 million vaccinations have reportedly been scheduled in the state. 

New Jersey was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 700,000 confirmed cases and more than 22,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to The New York Times.

President Biden is still aiming for 100 million people to be vaccinated within his first 100 days in office, but the process has been difficult, involving delivery delays, scheduling issues and vaccine hesitancy.