(Canadian Press)

By Troy Gillard

AHS apologizes for botched vaccine rollout for seniors

Feb 27, 2021 | 2:39 PM

RED DEER, AB – The President and CEO of Alberta Health Services (AHS) has apologized over this week’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout for seniors 75 and over.

“We have heard from seniors and their family members that the stress of trying to book appointments this week added to what is already an extremely trying time. I want to publicly and personally apologize to anyone who experienced frustration, anger, or worry over what should be a hopeful time in the pandemic response,” Dr. Verna Yiu said in a statement on Friday.

Yiu says AHS made an error in judgment in how they stress-tested their online booking system, which launched Wednesday, underestimating the number of Albertans 75 years and over who would call 811 and go online to book at launch time.

“We had planned for tens of thousands at a time, and demand far exceeded that, leading to technical issues that took several hours to resolve.”

Yiu says those technical issues have been fixed and the system is now stable.

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“We also acknowledge the public confidence in our ability to deliver immunizations has been shaken,” she admitted, adding that AHS is looking at how to reduce long lines at immunization clinics.

In just two days, more than 120,000 Albertans aged 75 and over signed up to get the COVID-19 vaccine – more than half the province’s population in this age group – with upwards of 12,000 of them receiving the vaccine.