Posted on Wednesday April 21, 2021
We understand and acknowledge the frustration many members of our community are feeling related to the vaccine booking process for the Ajax Community Centre hotspot vaccination clinic. In response to feedback, we wanted to provide more details in an effort to clarify the situation.
Shortly after the portal went live at approximately 9 a.m., the system was overwhelmed by approximately 11,000 people who registered within a few minutes to secure one of approximately 2,800 available vaccine appointments. Because of this overwhelming response, we became fully booked within minutes. And because of the limited number of appointments, we closed the portal to additional bookings.
As a result of so many concurrent requests the online portal was unable to process the registrations as fast as they came in and a number of forms failed to be processed and/or were received out of sequence. This explains why, in some cases, people who registered earlier did not receive an appointment, whereas others who may have registered at a later time received an appointment.
Over the course of the day, we were able to consider our future vaccine allocations for Durham Region and identify additional dates and appointment numbers for our clinic. All individuals notified that they were on the wait list have now received appointment times. Our teams are continuing to work through all requests received this morning.
We understand the disappointment and frustration for those who were advised that their appointment could not be booked. However, all individuals who registered through the portal this morning will have their submission kept in queue for an appointment as soon as one becomes available.
We apologize for this occurrence and inconvenience and are working hard to get available vaccines to our community as fast as possible.
