The recent pandemic has reshaped the world as we know it - our daily lives’ course was interrupted and we had to learn how to adjust to new, mostly virtual, reality. Almost a year later there is an end in sight: the Government of Canada has been distributing vaccines since December 2020 and, so far, 2.56% of the Canadian population has been vaccinated.
But have you ever wondered how the Canadian government is going to coordinate vaccinations for everybody? With all in-personal interactions ceased, the answer is, of course, virtually. As phase two of vaccine rollout begins, and the vaccines are becoming more widespread, the government of Canada announced the launch of a brand new online portal, which will be responsible for all the immunization bookings. Besides booking your immunization appointment, the portal will function as a one-stop information valts where you can get answers to all your COVID-19 related questions.
Most portals are still in the works and are yet to be launched, but will soon be available Canada-wide. The look and functionality of the portals will differ depending on where you live. Provinces and territories might have different timelines, but the notion remains the same - if you want to get COVID-19 vaccine, you’re going to have to do it virtually on these platforms.
As per Ontario, the province says that it has successfully tested a scheduling site and the online reservation system should be up-and-running on March 15. There’s little information available on how the actual portal will look like and how it will operate. With most of the provinces and territories falling behind (Ontario included), slots for coronavirus immunizations can already be booked through web sites in Prince Edward Island (PEI) and the Northwest Territories. Even though we do not know what the Ontario’s portal will look like, we can take a look at the already running ones to see what we are up against.
Screen shot of PEI Portal
Prince Edward Island portal seems pretty straightforward. In the first step, you have to indicate whether you’re in the current target group (the portal provides you with the link above the selection field to the official COVID-19 guidelines for you to check). Then you get to select which target group you belong to, which allows for you to move to the next step, in which you fill out your personal information along with your health card. In the last step, you get to review the information you filled out and the portal lets you know that they will contact you to schedule your appointment if you are, in fact, in the current target group.
Screen shot of the Northwest Territories Portal
Northwest Territories portal has fewer steps - you first select which group you belong to based on whether it's your first dose or second dose (and when you received that first dose). Then the portal takes you to a calendar, where you can select the date and time that suits you best. After, you enter your contact information and health card and voila - your vaccination appointment is booked.
Now, we don’t know that Ontario’s vaccination booking portal will operate similarly to PEI and Northwest Territories portal but one thing we do know - when Ontario’s portal launches, the competition will be brutal. It’s like wanting to get tickets to the most anticipated event of the year - if you don’t get there early enough, most likely all the tickets will be sold out. The same goes for booking the vaccination appointment. As soon as the portals go live, there’s a high chance that they will crash, as thousands of people will be trying to book their appointment at once. That is why the government of Ontario pushed the date from March 1 to March 15: the portal is operational already, but after conducting several tests, they are not sure that the system will be able to withstand the large volume of requests that is expected.
As the vaccination portals are already available in the US, we get the privilege of learning from their mistakes. That’s how we know that the volume of booking will be large and that you will be competing with thousands of people at once. Of course, the government of Ontario strives to make the portal as accessible as possible, taking into consideration that at first the users will be older adults, who tend not to be tech-savvy. However, Ontario will be using the same scheduling software as California, which has been heavily criticized by some seniors in the US for being too confusing and overwhelming. Because they are lacking the digital literacy skills that the younger generation has, they are at a disadvantage and can’t book their appointments fast enough. “Who cares?” you might think. “It’s not like younger generations are getting vaccinated in March.” You are partially right - it’s older adults who are eligible to book appointments, but there’s nothing stopping a son, a granddaughter or a caregiver from assisting their older relatives. In a way, you are not only competing with other older adults who might not have the digital literacy skills, you are also competing with a younger generation.
If you feel like booking an appointment through an online portal is not your cup of tea, there will be an option to book your appointment by phone across Canada. This is also why Ontario and several other provinces are currently in the process of developing a customer service desk, which will be available to all struggling with the online booking and the language barriers (the portals will only be available in English and French). The call centers will become available on March 15 as well.
The problem with the call centers or customer service desks, is that the process will hardly be easier: there’s a chance that the call lines are going to be overwhelmed and people will end up being on hold for many hours. This means that the tech-savvy Canadians will have an advantage and could get vaccinated earlier, since going online and clicking a few buttons is a much quicker process. Think of this as any other online form, only of utmost importance. And like with any other online form, the higher your digital literacy skills are, the more comfortable you’re going to be navigating the portal and winning the “competition”.
Many health officials and experts agree that an online portal is going to be essential to manage a mass vaccination campaign and this is the virtual system that Canada will be using for all future vaccinations. With millions of Canadians in line for COVID-19 vaccines, using technology to book shots will make the process more convenient and efficient for many, especially if you are tech literate . That’s right - digital literacy comes in handy once again, as it can determine how quickly you will get the vaccine.
- Anna Povorozniuk, Virtual Communications Developer