Online Vaccine Form Upgraded, More Automation

The upgrades to the online Covid-19 vaccine registration form “were necessary in part because we are aware of some individuals in the community receiving their vaccinations seemingly not in the order of the Ministry’s vaccine allocation strategy,” Health Minister Kim Wilson said, adding that they have “developed a more automated process for ensuring persons in the target groups were scheduled for a vaccination.”

Speaking at this week’s press briefing, Minister Wilson said, “Some residents may be aware that we had to take down the online registration form over the past weekend so our team could undertake necessary upgrades as we move to Phase 2 registration. The form was back live yesterday morning.

“The upgrades were necessary in part because we are aware of some individuals in the community receiving their vaccinations seemingly not in the order of the Ministry’s vaccine allocation strategy. While out of the thousands of vaccines administered, this is a very small number of people, it is unfortunate.

“The vaccine team has worked hard to prioritise and make appointments for persons in Phases 1A and 1B. Doing this manually proved extremely time consuming, particularly in face of the overwhelming response received when we asked residents to register their interest in being vaccinated.

“Over time, the team developed a more automated process for ensuring persons in the target groups were scheduled for a vaccination based on key words as self-reported in the registration process.

“It became clear, however, that while the scheduling was quicker, some people got vaccination appointments who would not ordinarily be in a target group, while others who we wanted to capture, missed out.

“One of the refinements with the new registration form which, as I stated, went live yesterday, includes an improved ability to prioritise members of essential services, for example, and other key groups.

“We cannot guarantee persons outside a particular target group will not receive a vaccination appointment, but the changes to the appointments process should see a reduction in these already low numbers.

“That said, the Ministry will be issuing an RFP later this week which seeks to engage a vendor for a new Pandemic Response Administration system to cover all aspects of the pandemic from testing through to vaccinations,” the Minister said.

According to the online form — which you can visit at forms.gov.bm/covid — vaccine “registration is now open to residents who are in Phase 1 or Phase 2 priority groups:

• “Phase 1: Residents 65 years and up, rest home residents, frontline healthcare workers, essential workers, and extremely vulnerable people [those undergoing chemotherapy, those with lupus, severe asthma or severe COPD]
• Phase 2: Residents 50 years and up, essential travellers [medical travel or return to school only], and vulnerable people [those with heart disease, chronic kidney or liver disease, diabetes].”

As of last count, there have been over 9000 vaccinations done and over 15,000 people have registered their interest; and eligible people are welcome to register their interest via the recently upgraded online form here.

As the island and world deals with the Covid-19 pandemic, we are doing our best to provide timely and accurate information, and you can find more information on the links below.

• All: Our coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic here
• Official: The Bermuda Government website here
• World Stats: Live graph of all cases worldwide here
• Bermuda Stats: Chart of the Bermuda stats here
• Timeline: Visual look at the timeline here
• Comprehensive: Our BermudaCovid.com website here
• Live Updates: Continuous updates of the latest news here.

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