Booking system glitches could derail Year 12 mass vaccination drive

There are concerns the mass vaccination of 24,000 year 12 students in NSW could stretch longer than six days as scheduled.

Sydney Technical High School students Adam Milosavijevic, L, Ambrose Konstantinidis and Huy Nguyen are to be a part of the Year 12 mass vaccination drive starting tomorrow. Picture: Jane Dempster

The Berejiklian government’s vaccination drive for Year 12 students in hotspot areas is being derailed by booking system glitches and last-minute transport disruptions, sparking concerns the mass immunisation of 24,000 students could take much longer than the six days scheduled.

With students’ return to school in time for HSC examinations hinging on high levels of vaccination rates, health authorities have been scrambling to execute priority vaccination for students in eight local government areas from Monday.

But the rollout to students has already been marred by technical glitches that have seen students waiting on the site for hours unable to book a vaccine, reporting the system has been rejecting their personal information or simply crashing. Others say they are still waiting to receive the link to book a jab even though they are part of the eligible group.

Late on Friday evening, eligible students were sent a link to individually register and book in a time for their vaccination after NSW Health officials backflipped on an original proposal to transport students at an allocated time as whole year cohorts on buses to the Qudos Bank Arena.

The decision blindsided school principals, who rushed to ensure students would be able to get transport to the hub and sparked concern about whether the added logistical complexity may prove a disincentive for students to get vaccinated.

On Saturday, Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the decision not to transport the students was based on issues surrounding their supervision, and instead asked students to make their own arrangements.

The booking link asked students to create a profile that included name, gender, Medicare details, address, vaccination history and select a priority group in order to register. But by Sunday, some students were still unable to successfully book, reporting the website had rejected some personal information or the system had become totally unresponsive.

Rosebank College Year 12 student Sam Cooke, 17, said he had been trying since Friday night to book but had so far been unsuccessful with the website rejecting his Medicare details.

Sydney Technical High School student Huy Nguyen, 18, had the same problem, and had been forced to contact the Qudos Bank Arena hotline, which advised him to leave the Medicare box blank in order to bypass the problem. His classmate, Ambrose Konstantinidis, 17, was able to book his appointment for Monday, but expressed concern for some of his friends who might not be able to organise travel across Sydney to get to the hub.

All Saints Catholic College student Joel Aitchison, 17, was finally able to book after spending many hours over the weekend on the website. He said friends had been reporting the same technical issues, and some classmates had been turned off by the complexity of the system and cancellation of the shuttle service.

NSW Secondary Principals Association Craig Peterson said the decision to scrap the buses and remove each school’s allocated vaccination times had come as a shock. “We are concerned that for some of our disadvantaged communities, and those who have English as a second language, it may be impossible to get out there,” he said. “We are hearing reports that some students don’t want to get it done, which may reflect parental concern or misinformation on social media, and now we have an added complexity of getting there so it will be interesting to see how it goes.”

NSW Health said the centre has the capacity to administer 4000 vaccinations per day, with the hope of offering first doses to as many students as possible this week.