By Chris Brown

Vaccine rollout announcement

Crashed COVID-19 booking site another difficulty and frustration: Shandro

Feb 24, 2021 | 5:03 PM

Health Minister Tyler Shandro says even though the COVID-19 vaccination appointment booking system crashed this morning, that’s not slowing the distribution of vaccines.

At 8 a.m. Albertans born in 1946 or earlier were able to book a vaccination appointment.

When the system opened this morning, the online registration often kicked people out midway, if they got through at all, and calls to 811 were met with a busy signal.

He said he understands the frustrations of Albertans.

“Vaccines are our ticket out of the pandemic, out of the anxiety, out of the stress,” said Shandro this afternoon. “And so any delay booking an appointment is yet another difficulty and another frustration for folks. So I’m disappointed but the fact is it’s going to take time to reach everyone.”

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Shandro said Alberta Health Services is fixing the problems with the booking system as fast as they can. He says they’ve added network capacity and staff, and are working with Telus on the 811 line.

He says they will catch up quickly and now are able to handle up to 5,000 bookings per hour.

“We won’t get to everybody right on the very first day, but we will get to all of you.”

About 12,000 appointments had been booked as of noon on Wednesday and vaccinations were already being distributed this afternoon.

Shandro announced that the immunization program for Albertans aged 75 and older is being expanded to community pharmacies in the first week of March.

It is limited to pharmacies in Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton for now because of vaccine supply and strict storage and handling requirements for Pfizer vaccine. Those cities were chosen based on geography and population, said Shandro.

“I want to reassure those eligible Albertans not in or near one of these centres that they will still be able to receive their doses in the same time frame close to home through AHS,” he said.

The program will be expanded as soon as supply and processes are in place and it will eventually include community physicians and what Shandro called large “rapid-flow through” immunization clinics.