If you wanted to schedule an appointment to get a vaccination for the COVID-19 virus in Massachusetts you were most likely greeted by the above picture.
Beginning at 8 AM on Thursday, residents 65 and older were eligible to begin booking appointments at their nearest vaccination sites through the state’s vaccination website, vaxfinder.mass.gov.
However, with more than a million Massachusetts residents fitting that criteria following the scheduling of vaccinations for the 75+ crowd, the website crashed for several hours.
A message on the website page read, “This application crashed. If you are a visitor please try again shortly.” The text was accompanied by the orange outline of an octopus with a question mark over its head.
“My hair’s on fire about the whole thing. I can’t begin to tell you how pissed off I am,” Governor Charlie Baker said on WGBH radio Thursday.
As of mid-Thursday afternoon, the site seemed to be working as it should, but most appointments at the largest vaccination sites had already been filled.