Covid-19 vaccine booking lines overwhelmed with calls

Mar 8, 2021 | 11:39 AM

Call centres in B.C. to help residents make appointments for Covid-19 vaccines have been overwhelmed with calls on this the opening day to make bookings.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said 1.7 million calls came in over the first few hours, even though only seniors aged 90 or over and Indigenous people 65 and older, are supposed to be making appointments at this point.

Click here for more on the booking dates and clinic sites.

The call centres opened at 7 a.m. at the Fraser, Island, Interior, Northern and Vancouver Coastal health authorities.

Dix said there are about 47,000 people in the province who are 90 and older, and 35,000 who are Indigenous people over 65, so he urged anyone who is not calling on behalf of someone in those categories to hang up the phone, and wait for their time to come.

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Dix added health authorities are booking thousands of appointments and plenty of time slots remain.

There are still five days left to book for people in those age groups, so if callers don’t get through today, he says there is still time.

The minister said the phone lines are the focus right now because of the age of those who are eligible, but Fraser Health has online booking, and a broader web-based system will become a larger component of booking as younger age categories get their turn.

(With files from The Canadian Press)

by Pete McIntyre

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