Vaccine issues needle Manitobans

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This article was published 04/03/2021 (1400 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A week after the oldest Manitobans began receiving their first COVID-19 vaccine doses, some are still trying to figure out if they’re eligible and how to book an appointment.

The province’s phone-booking system (1-844-626-8222) is currently taking appointments for people 89 and older, or 69 and up for First Nations residents.

The phone line is meant for families and caregivers to book appointments for elderly relatives. The province says third-party booking on someone else’s behalf is allowed, as long as that person is old enough to be eligible for the vaccine.

The process has been fairly smooth for Manitobans who can navigate the phone line and fill out an online registration form, according to some who’ve booked appointments for older relatives. But there have been bumps in the road.

Colette O’Reilly, 73, had a frustrating experience Thursday trying to book an appointment for a 90-year-old woman she’s been checking in on during the pandemic.

The woman, a former neighbour of O’Reilly’s daughter, is a widow with adult children living abroad. She lives alone and didn’t know she was eligible to receive the vaccine until O’Reilly told her.

O’Reilly said she tried to book the appointment on the 90-year-old’s behalf, but was told that wasn’t possible because she wasn’t a relative. Asking the call centre staff to contact her friend directly was also a no-go. O’Reilly ended up helping the 90-year-old through the booking process via a landline handset sandwiched on top of a cellphone speaker.

She called it a “ridiculous situation.”

“They would ask her a question, and she didn’t hear them half the time,” O’Reilly said.

It took about 30 minutes, but eventually the older woman secured a slot. O’Reilly plans to drive her to the appointment.

“After, she said, ‘You know, if I had to do this by myself, I never would have done it,’” O’Reilly said. “It doesn’t bother me to do it, but I think a lot of people cannot do it.”

In some U.S. states, volunteer programs have sprung up to help people book vaccine appointments. People can choose to give their information to a volunteer who navigates the booking system for them.

No such program exists in Manitoba, and a provincial spokesperson wouldn’t say Thursday whether the government is considering something similar, only “additional enhancements will be announced in the coming days.”

In a statement, a spokesperson said the current booking system “has proven to be highly successful, with minimal waiting periods for the caller.”

The call centre staff ask for email addresses and cellphone numbers to send appointment reminders, but the spokesperson said they’re not required and aren’t meant to be a barrier to the elderly. Limited copies of registration forms are available at vaccine clinics for those who can’t fill them out online, the spokesperson said.

The booking process was much smoother for some younger Manitobans, who told the Free Press they got appointments for eligible relatives fairly easily.

“The experience was really good,” said Kenny Boyce, who booked for his 95-year-old aunt and took her to get vaccinated in Winnipeg last week. He said she likely could have handled the booking herself.

“She’s not your average senior,” Boyce said. “She’s very engaged.”

The convention centre appointment took less than 40 minutes.

“She dressed really beautifully for that day, she was all dolled up,” said Boyce, who said he would have liked to see more wheelchairs available at the downtown convention centre, considering the 90-plus crowd.

“Other than that, it was a seamless experience.”

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca