Only Priority Groups Allowed To Register Via Vaccine Appointment System

Only priority groups selected for coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination will be allowed to register online via the just-launched vaccination appointment system.

The priority groups now being inoculated are persons aged 75 years and older, as well as members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dunstan Bryan, said that the system was designed in this manner to prevent the registration of persons outside of the designated priority grouping.

He noted that since the vaccination portal was launched on Monday (March 22), there have been 128,000 hits but only 15,800 one-time passwords issued.

“What this says, especially for the one-time password, is that there are a lot of persons who are going onto the system who are not in the priority groups at this time and… tried to register and were not allowed to register because they are not in the priority groups,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary was addressing the weekly virtual COVID-19 Conversations press briefing on Tuesday (March 23).

Mr. Bryan implored persons to be patient and wait their turn for inoculation and in doing so “unclog the system” for the persons now being prioritised, particularly those in the 75 and older age group.

“So we want to encourage persons, if you are not in any of the groups that are being dealt with at this time… do not try to register on the system because it does create a lot of traffic and slows the ability of other persons who are registered to access and make an appointment,” he said.

Turning to telephone registration, Mr. Bryan said that the telephone lines were inundated with approximately 4,000 calls on Monday, which led to 30 per cent of calls going unattended.

To address this, he noted that the number of agents, which stood at 60 yesterday, were doubled today to absorb the number of calls being fielded.

In the meantime, Mr. Bryan noted that the launch of the online system went well, despite a few glitches, such as the one-time password that was delayed, which “we were able to resolve within 30 minutes”.

Persons can make an appointment by registering online through the vaccination appointment system on the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ website at www.moh.gov.jm, or by calling the Vaccination Call Centre Hotline at 888 ONE LOVE (888-663-5683).