[vic]

It's curious that I found the provincial booking site (accessed via our local PHU site) completely straight forward. I only had to enter fields once and was done in a matter of minutes. I had to wait in the 'virtual queue' for above an hour, which was just about bang on to its prediction, and I whiled away that time poking around other websites, like this one, until it was down to a couple of minutes.

I found the Provincial site to be pretty decent as well. And the only times that the queues were exceptionally long (1 hour waits, etc.) were when big new batches of availability were made available (like this past Monday morning). Since then, I was able to book an appointment with less than a minute's wait, and then again re-book an earlier one with no wait at all. I was lucky to jump on when some additional slots came online though. I like that the provincial system also automatically cancels previously-booked appointments made through the provincial system if you re-book.

Actually, I'm surprised that they just don't make *more* of these types of appointments available, even if some of them are more targeted to certain locations/demographics, instead of those mass immunization clinics where thousands of people line up all day long.

 

[lenaitch]

I found the Provincial site to be pretty decent as well. And the only times that the queues were exceptionally long (1 hour waits, etc.) were when big new batches of availability were made available (like this past Monday morning). Since then, I was able to book an appointment with less than a minute's wait, and then again re-book an earlier one with no wait at all. I was lucky to jump on when some additional slots came online though. I like that the provincial system also automatically cancels previously-booked appointments made through the provincial system if you re-book.

Actually, I'm surprised that they just don't make *more* of these types of appointments available, even if some of them are more targeted to certain locations/demographics, instead of those mass immunization clinics where thousands of people line up all day long.

Ya, I booked on the day when they reduced dose two access for my age group, so a bit of a crush.

I suppose better standing in line for a vaccine than in line for the dollar store, Canadian Tire or Winners - in the pouring rain - like I saw today.

 

[gregv]

I found the Provincial site to have new appointments loaded and eligibility updated before the scheduled 8am start time Monday.
I tried at 7:50 and was booked before 8.

I will cancel my July 21 appointment at Sunnybrook (originally August 17) and happily get my second shot at MTCC this weekend.

 

[Jonny5]

I found the Provincial site to have new appointments loaded and eligibility updated before the scheduled 8am start time Monday.
I tried at 7:50 and was booked before 8.

I will cancel my July 21 appointment at Sunnybrook (originally August 17) and happily get my second shot at MTCC this weekend.

I noticed that too back for my first shot. It appears to usually be updated and open to new groups and appointments at least five minutes before the PR says it will open.

 

[zang]

Obviously, some have had few problems using the provincial site, but here's my experience this morning, and is yet another reason why this system sucks.

I was able to find an appointment in Mississauga for next weekend. Not ideal for someone living in the Toronto Core who choses not to have a car, but better than the massive list of Barrie, Bradford, etc. that I've been seeing all week.

Despite having already searched the site dozens of times already, I still had to enter my OHIP information yet again, and postal code multiple times (seriously, Estonia's "ask once" policy kicks our ass in terms of government-data and its citizens; take note Doug Ford). There were tonnes of appointments available for Saturday of next week and the surrounding days.

Awesome. Good. An appointment almost a week earlier than the pharmacy one I got yesterday (that was subsequently cancelled by said pharmacy).

Now, to sign up my wife...

Enter all of her OHIP info, postal code multiple times... and? No available appointments at all. None. Zip. All gone.

Except they weren't. My wife was able to immediately log in on her computer and get the appointment time five minutes after mine. Plenty of appointments visible to her.

WTF?!

I could understand blocking a computer from acting as a scalping bot for successive hits in a short period of time, but in this case I was unable to make more than a single appointment within a two minute+ period. All of this even though the site clearly asks if you're booking on someone else's behalf.

It may not seem like much, but it means less tech-saavy/tech-available families are going to hit a roadblock signing up multiple users in a single household with a single device. We're told that multi-generational households are a big problem during covid times, and the provincial government has effectively set a massive speed bump in front of many of those people that'll keep them from getting appointments at the same time.

So it seems Ontariohealth.ca actually *does* set local cookies (which seem to be blocking an immediate second sign up). They just don't use those cookies to set your OHIP data, postal code, etc. so you don't need to re-enter your data every single time you visit the site. Deleting those cookies allowed me to see the available dates. Certainly not a barrier for anyone who's even moderately tech-savvy, but a barrier that might stop the average person. And it'll do little to stop fraudsters.

Maybe others have had a different experience, but I will repeat again that this rollout has been a clusterfk.

 

[Northern Light]

Obviously, some have had few problems using the provincial site, but here's my experience this morning, and is yet another reason why this system sucks.

I was able to find an appointment in Mississauga for next weekend. Not ideal for someone living in the Toronto Core who choses not to have a car, but better than the massive list of Barrie, Bradford, etc. that I've been seeing all week.

Despite having already searched the site dozens of times already, I still had to enter my OHIP information yet again, and postal code multiple times (seriously, Estonia's "ask once" policy kicks our ass in terms of government-data and its citizens; take note Doug Ford). There were tonnes of appointments available for Saturday of next week and the surrounding days.

Awesome. Good. An appointment almost a week earlier than the pharmacy one I got yesterday (that was subsequently cancelled by said pharmacy).

Now, to sign up my wife...

Enter all of her OHIP info, postal code multiple times... and? No available appointments at all. None. Zip. All gone.

Except they weren't. My wife was able to immediately log in on her computer and get the appointment time five minutes after mine. Plenty of appointments visible to her.

WTF?!

I could understand blocking a computer from acting as a scalping bot for successive hits in a short period of time, but in this case I was unable to make more than a single appointment within a two minute+ period. All of this even though the site clearly asks if you're booking on someone else's behalf.

It may not seem like much, but it means less tech-saavy/tech-available families are going to hit a roadblock signing up multiple users in a single household with a single device. We're told that multi-generational households are a big problem during covid times, and the provincial government has effectively set a massive speed bump in front of many of those people that'll keep them from getting appointments at the same time.

So it seems Ontariohealth.ca actually *does* set local cookies (which seem to be blocking an immediate second sign up). They just don't use those cookies to set your OHIP data, postal code, etc. so you don't need to re-enter your data every single time you visit the site. Deleting those cookies allowed me to see the available dates. Certainly not a barrier for anyone who's even moderately tech-savvy, but a barrier that might stop the average person. And it'll do little to stop fraudsters.

Maybe others have had a different experience, but I will repeat again that this rollout has been a clusterfk.

I take it you were unable to get the vaccinations done through your family doctor?

****

I ask, because I haven't dealt w/the provincial site at all.

My family health team reached out to me by email; they had their own electronic appointment system, which you clicked through from the email.

I found the process quite efficient.

I realize there are those without family doctors, which is its own issue.

But I wonder why the system as I experienced it isn't more widely in place.

 

[zang]

I take it you were unable to get the vaccinations done through your family doctor?

****

I ask, because I haven't dealt w/the provincial site at all.

My family health team reached out to me by email; they had their own electronic appointment system, which you clicked through from the email.

I found the process quite efficient.

I realize there are those without family doctors, which is its own issue.

But I wonder why the system as I experienced it isn't more widely in place.

I quite literally talked to my doctor on Thursday to re-up a prescription and talked with him about the frustrations of getting a second dose.

If it was a service available to me, I certainly wasn't made aware of it.

 

[Northern Light]

I quite literally talked to my doctor on Thursday to re-up a prescription and talked with him about the frustrations of getting a second dose.

If it was a service available to me, I certainly wasn't made aware of it.

I don't doubt it; I do wonder why.

I think, because my FHT is an academic team affiliated with both a hospital and with U of T, it may been a preferred way to push vaccination out; and I just happened to be the beneficiary of that. (not sure)

But it was a very good system; they found me, easy to see and make appointments (you could see every slot they had on one page, and they were hustling in the actual procedure (waits averaging 10-15 minutes to get a shot).

The only weak spot I saw was that because people were asked to wait 15 minutes, outside of a treatment room after, the clinic was a bit crowded.

I wish that was the experience for more of you.

Its certainly one that should be emulated.

 

[DSC]

Ontario is reporting 355 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 25,400 tests completed.

Not looking too bad but not decreasing much each day.

 

[Northern Light]

Ontario is reporting 355 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 25,400 tests completed.

Not looking too bad but not decreasing much each day.

View attachment 329007

An 11% drop in hospitalizations yesterday, going from 378 to 336 ( - 42)

ICU down 17 to 335 , a drop of 4.8%

 

[Videodrome]

And yet we still can’t get haircuts…

 

[DSC]

I quite literally talked to my doctor on Thursday to re-up a prescription and talked with him about the frustrations of getting a second dose.

If it was a service available to me, I certainly wasn't made aware of it.

Most family docs are NOT giving vaccinations and are relying on the City's mass centres and the pharmacies and the pop-ups. My family doc (at Womens College) has sent out many emails with help and I actually had no problem in getting appointments #1 (Convention Centre) and bringing my #2 (Rexall) forward to last Thursday. (BTW, I had few side effects on either).

 

[PinkLucy]

From what I understand, a select few family health teams received vaccines but most family docs didn’t. Mine didn’t.

 

[Northern Light]

From what I understand, a select few family health teams received vaccines but most family docs didn’t. Mine didn’t.

Unfortunate. I found it very efficient (going through my FHT); and I don't know why you would try to reinvent the wheel when you have established means for how to do this.

I could see the need to supplement (family docs and health teams have other things to do)..........but they should be the first line of distribution to my mind.

*****

It reminds me of the issue of food banks. We don't have a shortage of food, or means to distribute it (supermarkets); what we have is people who have a shortage of income to buy the food.

Its less costly, and more efficient to give people who need money, money, and let them shop in the existing retail ecosystem, rather than relying on limited-selection, limited choice, limited location, limited hours food banks.

Don't fix what isn't broke; fix the actual problems; use the tools already available to do so, unless and except where they prove inadequate.

 

[PinkLucy]

Health units and family docs have done vaccine rollouts for years, but for some reason this was ignored with health units being brought in late to the game and family docs hardly at all. Just one of many head scratchers. (The initial super freezer temps did play a role early on)