Waiting, waiting, gone: Thousands spend hours in virtual rooms as vaccine appointments fill

BOSTON — Even before appointments were added to the state’s vaccination website Thursday morning, digital waiting rooms were filled with people hoping to secure a spot for one of the 50,000 shots - and by 9:30 a.m, the state said nearly all of them have been filled.

The waiting rooms were part of improvements to the state’s vaccine scheduling website that Gov. Charlie Baker said was being rolled out after last Thursday’s rush crashed the site and left many seeing an orange octopus with an error message on their screens.

This Thursday brought waiting rooms to get into the state’s site, then another queue once you were able to select a site to book, then more waiting to actually book an appointment. Some wait times displayed days to eventually book.