Having trouble with the Austin COVID-19 vaccine portal? It may be your username

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Public Health is well aware people have faced challenges using and creating accounts on its portal to sign up for the COVID-19 vaccine. At a joint meeting of Austin City Council and Travis County Commissioners Court Tuesday, health leaders emphasized one fix that has been helping people vexed by the site to log on.

Tips on getting through to finally get a COVID-19 vaccine

APH Director Stephanie Hayden-Howard explained Tuesday anyone who is having trouble logging in does not need to reset their username or password. When you enter your username, Hayden-Howard advised you type in your email address with ".aph" added on to the end.

So if your email address is johndoe@gmail.com, you would use johndoe@gmail.com.aph as your username to log in.

How to pre-register for the COVID-19 vaccine through Austin Public Health

Hayden said the public has been reporting password errors and malfunctions. At the meeting Tuesday, elected officials reported receiving similar complaints from their constituents.

Once you get to the point of creating an account and logging in through the APH portal, depending on your eligibility and how many vaccine doses APH currently has available, you may or may not be able to schedule an appointment. If you are unable to schedule an appointment upon signing up through the APH portal, Hayden said APH will email you when you are eligible to schedule an appointment.

People wait in line at an Austin Public Health distribution site to get the COVID-19 vaccine after they were registered.

"If there are no appointments, we don't have any other vaccines, we only release appointments when we have vaccines to accompany them," Hayden said.

She noted on Monday, within two hours of APH releasing appointments for COVID-19 vaccines, all of those appointments had been booked.

"How the vaccine is going to come in will continue to be slow," Hayden emphasized, encouraging the community to have patience.

APH said its focus right now is vaccinating those older than 65. The department is encouraging everyone who falls into the 1B category to sign up on the vaccine waitlist through the APH portal. Those under the age of 65 may have to wait a few weeks until vaccines are available for them.

To learn more on how to navigate the Austin Public Health COVID-19 portal, check out our in-depth coverage here.