System snafu allowed thousands to register for unauthorized vaccine appointment

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    TROY, Michigan (WNEM ) — A “vulnerability” in the scheduling tool Beaumont Health uses allowed 2,700 people to register for an unauthorized COVID-19 vaccine appointment, the hospital said.

The hospital noticed the unusual activity on Saturday and shut it down.

A user took advantage of the vulnerability in the Epic scheduling tool and shared an unauthorized scheduling pathway publicly, the hospital said.

The hospital is canceling all the appointments that were made using that pathway.

“These appointments violate the ethical distribution framework Beaumont created based upon the State of Michigan’s mandatory vaccine guidelines. We regret 2,700 people in our community became victims of this unfortunate incident. We remain committed to vaccinating as many people as possible who meet the State’s guidelines,” Beaumont Health Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Hans Keil said. “We are also notifying the Michigan Hospital Association and other Michigan health systems about the issue.”

The vulnerability in the system did not compromise anyone’s personal medical records, the hospital said.

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