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Thought of the Day - March 10 - BC Vaccine Registration Underway

Updated: Jul 30, 2021

Late last week a neighbour was kind enough to pass on information concerning the launch of the BC Public Vaccine Registration (online and by phone). I resisted publishing the information before now as I knew it would be a gong-show for the first few days - remember I used to work in IT. In order to launch a registration site or call centre you need to do two things:

  1. Bring-in adequate call management capacity on a temporary basis (web and phone) and

  2. Be savage with your triage. Along the lines of:

While you know you are going to piss people off, at least you make sure the people who should use the service actually can.


The first day, Monday, saw 1.7 million calls (remember the kids of 90+ year-olds are still in their 70s so less likely to do this online). Most calls were repeats as they could not get through. Of course. many should not have been calling in the first place as there are only about 54,000 people in BC who have yet to be vaccinated who fit the criteria. The SUN reported someone was so desperate they called 100 times on Monday - yes, really! That said, we know this is what people do. The same thing happened with the BC Recovery Benefit registration back in December. It still amazes me that we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot by not properly preparing for such rollouts.


Anyway, now on to the exciting news, in case you have not yet heard.


People are "invited" to book based on the age they are turning in 2021 (e.g. if you are turning 90 sometime this year, you will be invited to book with the 90 and older group, and so on.)

  • Starting Monday, March 8 book for appointments starting March 15: Seniors 90 years of age and older (born in 1931 or earlier), Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) individuals 65 years of age and older (born in 1956 or earlier) and Indigenous Elders.

  • Starting Monday, March 15 book for appointments starting March 22: Seniors 85 years of age and older (born in 1936 or earlier) (and all of the above who did not get through this week).

  • Starting Monday, March 22 book for appointments starting March 29: Seniors 80 years of age and older (born in 1941 or earlier).

Important: If you book an appointment before you are eligible, your appointment will be automatically cancelled and you will need to rebook when you become eligible (I guess this means: if you lied to get an appointment; so dressing up as an old lady will not work).

Canada has now approved four vaccines (Pfizer/BioNtech, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Oxford, J&J/Janssen). When you book you will not be told which vaccine you will receive and thus the discussion on your preference is eliminated. This gives the advantage of additional flexibility on the day in case batches are delayed or spoiled, or people do not show up. I have heard you are allowed to refuse on the day - I guess you would do that hoping you will "win the lottery" when you rebook.


As you know, led by Quebec, Canada is now adopting the first-shot-only approach. Simplistically, in the short term, this should lead to higher immunity figures in the population (don't get me started on the "does it prevent more death" discussion). Thus, there will be no booking of a second appointment for the time being, even for those vaccines that require it.


You do not need to take your Immunization Book with you as it is not used. Instead, you will have the option to receive a paper copy of your COVID-19 Immunization Record Card. To get access to an online COVID-19 immunization record you need to register for Health Gateway, a new service set up at the end of 2019. Even if you don't register, your COVID-19 Immunization Record will still be also be stored in the provincial database, accessible by public health and your doctor.


Happy Booking.


Cheers

Cliff








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