Albertans overload the health records system
Alberta's health records website continued to face technical delays Thursday, with more than 100,000 users waiting in the queue at some points, days before the province's vaccine passport program is set to launch.
On Wednesday, Premier Jason Kenney announced a “restriction exemption program,” or vaccine passport system for non-essential businesses and events to opt out of capacity restrictions in places like restaurants and gyms.
Starting Monday, Albertans over the age of 12 will be required to provide proof of full COVID vaccination or a negative privately paid test from within the previous 72 hours in order to access those events and businesses.
Albertans hoping to access their COVID -19 vaccination record through Myhealth Records, however, still faced a queue of tens of thousands of people waiting for access to the web portal on Thursday. Alberta Health said on Wednesday, 98,477 total users logged in to the website and app to access Myhealth Records and by Wednesday night, 943,809 people had signed up for Myhealth Records. A total of 13,104 new users registered for Myhealth Records the same day.
The printable card, which was supposed to be made available Thursday, will now be available as of Sunday. The government also plans to roll out a digital QR code in the coming weeks.
At Wednesday's announcement, Health Minister Tyler Shandro apologized to those who couldn't access their records online.
“Significant improvements to Myhealth Records are being made as we speak,” Shandro said, adding that Albertans should avoid trying to log in to Myhealth Records “for the time being” to download their records.
As of Thursday's update, 67.7 per cent of the province's total population has received at least one dose of COVID -19 vaccine, with 60.8 per cent fully vaccinated. Of those 12 and older eligible for the vaccine, 79.6 per cent have received at least one dose, with 71.5 per cent fully vaccinated.
Amanda Krumins, spokeswoman for Alberta Health, said in a statement Thursday work is still underway to improve access and respond to the high demand to view and download the card.
“Pushing the launch for a few days will lead to better service for people using Myhealth Records,” Krumins said.
Albertans are able to use the paper immunization record they were given at their COVID -19 vaccination appointment beginning Monday, or a screenshot of it.