Vaccine phone lines fail first-day test
Call centres, Fraser Health website quickly overwhelmed by demand
Of the 1.7 million calls that clogged B.C.'s COVID -19 vaccination booking phone lines on the first day, more than 100 of them belonged to Vancouver resident Kanchan Dhugga, who spent Monday desperately trying to get an appointment for her elderly grandparents.
It was an anxiety-inducing and exhausting experience shared by scores of people who faced busy signals, dropped calls and long waiting times as health authority call centres became overwhelmed on Monday.
At least 10,000 people did get appointments Monday, some being offered appointments immediately or later this week. Many of the bookings came on the online booking site at Fraser Health, which is the only health authority that allows people to book appointments online.
Dhugga is frustrated that the call centres weren't prepared with more staff to handle the volume of calls.
“They had many months to prepare for this.”
Only people age 90 and older and Indigenous people age 65 and older are eligible to book appointments this week. About 20,000 of the 47,000 British Columbians 90 and older have already received their vaccines in long-term care homes and about 8,000 of the 35,000 Indigenous people over 65 have received their jabs, which leaves about 54,000 people who were eligible to call starting Monday, said Health Minister Adrian Dix.
The “enormous” call volume indicates people outside those age categories might be calling before it's their turn, he said. Dix urged those who aren't yet eligible, and those who aren't calling on behalf of someone who is eligible, to put down the phone.
“If that were to continue, no phone system would respond to that.”
Dhugga began calling Vancouver Coastal Health at 6:59 a.m. — a minute before the lines opened at 7 a.m. — on behalf of her 91-yearold grandmother Bakshish and 94-year-old grandfather Mohinder. She received either a busy signal or a message telling her to call back later. A few times, she got through and was excited to be on hold, but each time, the call was dropped. She plans to try again first thing this morning.
Bakshish and Mohinder live independently, and other than grocery drop-offs at the door, haven't been able to see their family for more than a year, Dhugga said.
“This whole time since the pandemic hit, we've been told to be patient and we have. We've all done the right things,” Dhugga said. “But when the very systems put in place to help you are acting as barriers, it's very upsetting.”
One Vancouver woman booking for her 97-year-old husband said after six hours of calls and busy signals, she finally got through around 1 p.m. She was then put on hold for three hours, only to have the call dropped.
The provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said she would have liked an online booking system for all health authorities ready weeks ago, but Fraser Health was the only region with an online system “robust” enough to go live this week.
Henry reminded people to be patient.
“Calling this week if you're outside of these first age groups will not speed up your turn, but it may cause more delays for people trying to get appointments for their loved ones or for themselves who are in this first phase.”
Dix said more call centre staff will be added in the coming weeks. The government plans to expand online bookings starting April 12, Dix said.
Starting March 15, people age 85 and above can begin calling, and starting March 22, bookings open to people age 80 and above. Once people are eligible, they can book anytime after their start date.
A bright side of the large call volumes, Dix said, is that “it reflects the very significant support for immunization in the province.”
Dix stressed the vaccine booking system isn't first come, first served, and that everyone who wants the vaccine will get one.
“There are lots of appointments,” he said. “They're not going to run out.”
Badrinath Narayan is one of the lucky ones.
The Surrey resident logged in promptly at 7 a.m. and was able to book an appointment for his 94-year-old grandmother, Swarnambal (Seetha) Krishnamoorthy, through the Fraser Health online booking site for later in the day.
“I was happy with the process,” he said.
Narayan noted that 15 minutes later, the website started having difficulty loading.