Book My Vaccine go-live a ‘resounding success’ - Bloomfield

eHealthNews.nz: Covid-19

Book My Vaccine go-live a ‘resounding success’ - Bloomfield

Wednesday, 28 July 2021

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More than 100,000 appointments were made on the first day of the new national tool for booking Covid-19 vaccinations going live to the public.

The go-live of Book My Vaccine on July 28 has been described as a “resounding success” by director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield.

Around 165,000 people aged 60-64 were sent invitations yesterday by letter, email or text message asking them to reserve their two appointments online or by calling the Covid Vaccination Healthline.

There were more than 105,000 new bookings made in one day, bringing the total number of future bookings in the system to nearly 950,000.

Book My Vaccine was already live at the country’s 20 DHBs, which transferred their existing bookings into the new national system.

The Ministry of Health has developed Book My Vaccine using the Salesforce plugin Skedulo, which integrates with the National Covid-19 Immunisation Register, built on Salesforce technology.

Deputy director-general data and digital Shayne Hunter said during a demonstration of the tool on June 25 that this is the first time the country has used a national booking system for a vaccination program.

“We've adapted it for New Zealand, we've tested it with consumer groups and the feedback on its usability is very positive,” he said.

“We have done everything to make sure it can’t be hacked. With considerable work on security and privacy I’m confident we have done what we can to protect it.”

DHBs are responsible for ensuring information about vaccination sites, opening times and available vaccinators is up-to-date to ensure the system only offers times and locations that are available to the public.

More than 70 percent of people aged 65 and over have now either been vaccinated or are booked in.

Bloomfield says, “this really demonstrates that our teams throughout the country are working to our plan as they ramp up the delivery of vaccines to New Zealanders.

“The call centre did a great job yesterday, taking more than 21,000 calls. But they’re ready and waiting to take more.”

Anyone can visit Book My Vaccine to register their details and once bookings are open for their age group they will be sent an email or text about making appointments.