FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): The Allen County Department of Health is asking for the public’s help by cancelling unneeded vaccine appointment spots.

If you have a vaccine appointment scheduled at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum that you need to cancel, call 260-449-7722 and leave a voicemail with your full name, date of birth, phone number, and the date and time of the appointment.

“We recognize many folks are looking to get vaccinated as soon as possible, so they may schedule an appointment to hold a spot but are then able to get into another site faster,” said Mindy Waldron, department administrator. “We’ve heard that some just don’t know how to cancel a previously made appointment, so we want to make it as easy as possible for them to make a quick call so we can open that spot up for someone else.”

This comes after the department has seen an increase in people not showing up for scheduled appointments. The department reiterated that that does not result in a wasted vaccine dose, but it does limit dozens of appointments each day that otherwise could have been available.

Staff can also help those with cancelling appointments made via the state’s Zotec system through the state vaccine website, or you can call 211 for help.