Island health officials fielded a flurry of questions and sought to assuage concerns and confusion about the vaccine rollout at a community forum late last week.

Hosted by the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and the Dukes County Commission, Island Health Care and the Island boards of health, the Friday Zoom forum coincidentally fell on the same day Mass General Brigham announced that vaccine scheduling at hospitals would be halted while limited supplies were being directed to mass vaccination sites in the commonwealth.

The Vineyard hospital had quickly announced that it is exempt from the directive because it is a rural hospital — but there was much confusion nonetheless after many Islanders had received an email from Mass General Brigham, which owns the Island hospital.

“I know . . . the state rollout has been confusing, bumpy and pretty frustrating across the commonwealth, but please know we are working closely with the state as a designated state vaccination site,” hospital president and CEO Denise Schepici told forum participants.

Portuguese translation was also provided.

Cynthia Mitchell, CEO of Island Health Care, Tisbury health agent Maura Valley and Gabriel Garcia, infection prevention program manager at the hospital also spoke briefly.

A flood of questions followed, many of them focused on the email from Mass General Brigham earlier the same day. Ms. Schepici attempted to bring some clarity on a day of much confusion.

“We’ve been assured by the state that we will continue to receive our share of vaccines from the state,” she said, urging residents to ignore the updates from Patient Gateway, the online portal for Mass General Brigham patients. “We have enough coming . . . to support our needs so it should have no effect on us.”

Claire Seguin, chief nursing and operations officer at the hospital, said the hospital would be moving to a sign-up system. Patient Gateway users who already signed up for a vaccine slot will see no changes, while those who have not yet signed up — or are not yet eligible — will be directed to sign up on the hospital website in a first-come first-served basis, she said.

“What will end up happening will be very much like any other state site. We will be given a certain amount of vaccine each week for that group and it’ll be a first-come-first-served basis as long as you’re eligible,” said Ms. Seguin. “Anyone who’s over 75, we’ve already got your names and anyone who we’ve told that they’re in Gateway and currently eligible, don’t have to do anything else.”

There were questions about when vaccinations will begin for people over 65 and those with two or more co-morbidities, the next group that will be eligible for vaccinations after those 75 and over are vaccinated.

Ms. Seguin said there is no clear timeline yet and urged patience. “We have to wait at this point for the state,” she said. “We have been advocating hard that we could move faster, but at this time they want us to go at the same pace as the state.”

She said based on the hospital’s current vaccination pace, there could be a lag before the next round begins. “That’s a distinct possibility,” Ms. Seguin said.

Other questions ranged from residential requirements for vaccinations to efforts to reach vaccine-hesitant groups on the Island.

“We have a large equity program behind our vaccination plan to try to do outreach to communities who might be what we call vaccine-hesitant and need more information,” Ms. Seguin said.

Ms. Seguin and Ms. Schepici also said the hospital is recruiting community volunteers — both clinical and administrative — to help with the rollout.

At the close, county commissioner Christine Todd thanked all the participants said more forums would be held to keep the community informed.

“Every day brings another question, another concern and another challenge,” she said.