GREENSBORO — Guilford County plans to keep its COVID-19 vaccination appointment line open on Saturday and Sunday to help deal with the volume of calls and has added an online scheduling tool.

The county launched the call center on Friday to begin scheduling vaccinations for the next eligible group, those over age 75, starting on Monday. The "unprecedented high demand," led to the "intial system failures and extended call waiting times," the county said Friday evening in a news release.

By noon, the county had received more than 11,250 calls to the appointment line, the county said. More workers were added and phone line services have been extended through the weekend, to help with the demand, the county said. And now there's an online appointment scheduling tool available at www.healthyguilford.com. The call-in number is 336-641-7944.

The county said Friday there are still open appointments next week. Officials hope to vaccinate 500 people each day. There are two sites: Mount Zion Baptist Church, 1301 Alamance Church Road, Greensboro and High Point University Community Center at Oak Hollow Mall, 921 Eastchester Drive, Suite 1230, High Point.

The call center will be open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. It will resume normal business hours next week.

County Health Director Dr. Iulia Vann asked residents to be patient as the county works to streamline the process amid such high demand.

“I am encouraged to see that so many members of our community are taking steps to ensure that they are properly vaccinated, as this is critical to slowing the spread of COVID-19 in Guilford County," Vann said in the release.

As the state moves to the remaining phases of distribution, the county will expand its vaccination clinics.

Those who get vaccinated at the clinics will be scheduled for another appointment for the second shot. Both vaccines approved for use in the United States require a second dose to be fully effective.

Health officials asked that only those eligible in this phase of the vaccination schedule call for an appointment.

Click here for more information about the state's planned rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

Updated 10:57 a.m.

GREENSBORO — Guilford County's vaccination appointment phone line is back up and running, however, there's a long wait time.

Demand for appointments far exceeds the number of available doses, the county said about 10:45 a.m. on Twitter. More than 1,500 people are waiting to make an appointment on the phone line, the county said.

The county is expected to get new shipments each week of COVID-19 vaccines.

GREENSBORO — Guilford County said on Twitter that its COVID-19 vaccine call in number is not working right now.

Vaccine Appointment line update: we are currently experiencing issues with our phone carrier. Technicians are working to resolve the problem and the issue should be cleared very soon, and the lines reopened.

— Guilford County (@GuilfordCounty) January 8, 2021

Check back at greensboro.com for updates.