Vaccinators will soon be administering a third booster dose to Kiwis who have been fully vaccinated for six months or longer. Photo / Alex Burton
Vaccinators will soon be administering a third booster dose to Kiwis who have been fully vaccinated for six months or longer. Photo / Alex Burton
The Government's Book My Vaccine system is set to make a comeback when New Zealand starts its booster vaccine dose rollout next week.
It comes as the site is experiencing more than 40,000 fewer bookings each day this month than in August.
Book My Vaccine was launched in June by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, who both detailed how people were able to schedule their vaccination.
It came after people experienced widespread issues across the country as district health boards implemented their own booking systems.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shows off the Book My Vaccine system earlier this year. Photo / Dean Purcell
More than 100,000 bookings were made on the day of the site's launch. In August, despite the rollout shifting to a walk-in approach, 47,857 bookings were being made every day on average.
Demand almost halved in September with 26,702 average daily bookings and continued to drop in the final weeks of October (9087) and in the first two weeks of November (5247).
According to a Ministry of Health spokesperson, that decrease was expected as vaccine capacity issues were alleviated.
"Due to plenty of capacity available across the country, the need to book in advance has decreased, and DHBs and vaccination providers are now out in the community in greater numbers," the spokesperson said.
From Friday, Kiwis 18 years and older who have been fully vaccinated for six months or more will be able to book their booster dose through Book My Vaccine with first injections occurring from Monday.
Currently, 144,000 New Zealanders have been vaccinated for at least six months. This will increase to 455,847 by the end of the year.
The Ministry spokesperson expected website bookings to increase once the campaign started, but was unsure by how much, as Kiwis were still able to receive their booster dose as a walk-in.
A priority in the booster campaign would be healthcare and border workers because "large numbers" of such staff were vaccinated at least six months ago.
"We will also be making sure older people and kaumātua, including people in residential care, have good access to booster doses when they become eligible," the spokesperson said.
