The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDHPE) is now operating a hotline to answer questions related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
CBS4 reports that the call center began taking calls on Monday, January 25, and can be reached at 877-268-2926 (CO VAX CO).
The hotline received 5,267 calls on its first day alone, according to the state Joint Information Center (JIC).
The hotline currently has fifty operators answering calls in multiple languages. On Monday the JIC reported the average wait time to speak to an operator was 23 minutes.
"If these numbers and wait times continue, we'll be scaling up quickly, as early as next week," said the JIC.
The hotline takes calls from 9:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. Monday through Friday, and 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Saturday and Sunday until the end of January, according to officials.
In February the hotline will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Officials say the hotline can give callers phone numbers and websites for health-care providers in their area who are distributing the vaccine. However, operators cannot directly book an appointment or put someone on a waitlist for the vaccine.
"Navigating a website, navigating a portal is not always the easiest way for everyone to access the system," said CDPHE COVID-19 incident commander Scott Bookman. "... We're doing all that we can to continue providing all these different points of access."
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