Dr. Henry attempts to clarify confusion around vaccine registration glitch

On Monday, BC’s provincial health officer tried to clarify some confusion around vaccine bookings after some people who had received their first dose of AstraZeneca through a pharmacy reported they were getting notifications from the province’s Get Vaccinated program, telling them it was time to register.

“There were some concerns about people registering who’d already received a single dose, and [they] were getting messages about registering again for their first dose,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry during a press conference. “Registration is required only once, and I know some people had some concerns when they received their vaccine… if they would need to register again. Yes, it is helpful to register just once, but if you do register more than once, the system will recognize that as well.”

Henry said once someone registers for a booking, that person’s dose is reserved for them, and “as soon as the program becomes available,” they’ll be notified when to book.

“This is the most efficient way that we can do this,” she added.

Henry said that as immunization opens up to all adults in the province as quickly as possible, issues are bound to arise.

“We know that there’s been glitches, particularly with our IT system that we’ve been developing to make sure that we’ve recorded every dose that everybody has,” she said. “In some ways, we’ve been building a spaceship as we’ve been flying it. And we’re now entering into a new era, and there’s bound to be bumps along the way.”

Still, Henry said, the system will continue to adjust.

“We will take care of those glitches,” she said. “There’s bound to be more that will arise as well, as we’re getting more and more vaccines.”

At the end of the day, however, “everybody will get their turn.”

• See also:
  • Big events “not likely” to happen in BC this summer: Dr. Henry
  • BC health officials report 2,174 new COVID-19 cases, 15 more deaths since Friday
  • BC considering shorter gap between first and second dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Henry made the comments the same day she announced 2,174 new test-positive COVID-19 cases since Friday, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the province to 131,656.

Henry said there were 835 cases reported from Friday to Saturday, 671 from Saturday to Sunday, and 668 from Sunday to Monday.

Broken down by health region, this equates to 438 new cases in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,509 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 61 new cases in the Island Health region, 106 new cases in the Interior Health region, and 60 new cases in the Northern Health region.

There were also 15 more deaths over the weekend, bringing the death toll to 1,596.

There are currently 7,327 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 11,781 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases.

Currently, 474 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, 176 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Henry said that 122,518 individuals who tested positive have now recovered.