Commercial Fixed Wing
Dispatch Dispatcher
Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Distraction; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors; Staffing
Flight was dispatched with an illegal alternate. ZZZ airport was used; but ZZZ VOR was [out of service] at the time it was needed; therefore I should not have used it.On this day; all of the desks were heavy on flights. I made mention to our management along with another coworker we needed to add more people on [X day of the week]  as there were too many flights and not enough dispatchers to handle the workload. Management is looking at the schedule and adding manning. This desk had several added flights as well [due to] Center shutdown for a COVID cleaning and I had flights in the air that had to be coordinated with the closing. This type of flight was not usually on this desk; and it was right in the middle of everything else I was doing. I totally overlooked the VOR being OTS.Suggestions - More people on shift with reduced flight workload. In the last 7 days when I have been working; I have had more flights than I can remember and it's been different sectors. Coupled with bad weather; trying to flight follow; which is nearly impossible. The company is setting us up to fail. Any hiccup on the desk with a maintenance issue; or delay that requires attention and you are sunk on trying to get anything done on time.
Dispatcher reported using an illegal airport as an alternate. The Dispatcher reported another operations center was closed for COVID-19 sanitizing. This had increased the workload for the Dispatcher and contributed to the event.