ARCHIVED - Murcia changes to phone notification of Covid vaccination appointments as region plays vaccination catch-up
Faulty SMS messages help to relegate Murcia to the bottom of the vaccination rankings in Spain
In the light of the problems encountered so far by the regional health service of Murcia in notifying and confirming Covid vaccination appointments for members of the public it has been announced that from now on those due for the jab are to be informed by telephone.
This decision comes after reports of low take-up rates and the apparent reluctance on the part of members of the public to respond to SMS message notifications, although Juan José Pedreño, the minister for Health in the Murcia government, maintains that the rate of vaccination take-up has been “acceptable” until now.
The new plan consists of setting up a special call centre to improve the appointments system while at the same time continuing to send SMS notification, thus guaranteeing that the messages are received in one way or the other. At the same time, it is hoped that this will reduce the number of people who are apparently treating SMS notifications as a hoax or remain sceptical about the efficacy and safety of the vaccines and are not responding to the call for vaccination.
As many as 30 per cent of those notified are reported to be opting not to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, while 15 per cent of those offered the Pfizer product are declining the opportunity to receive it.
Additionally, there have been problems due to the contact details kept by health centres being out of date, and further setbacks have been the result of human or computer error, an example being the wrong date contained in hundreds of SMS messages: this led to under 300 of the 2,000 people called for vaccination presenting themselves at the Palacio de los Deportes in the city of Murcia on Tuesday of this week.
Other issues are that many elderly patients simply don´t have mobile phones and others do not have their phoned switched on when at home, so haven´t seen the messages.
Other problems have included confusion about which centre to go to; some readers report standing in a queue at Torre Pacheco after receiving an SMS message, and getting a call whilst standing in the queue to give them an appointment in Cartagena on another day!
Initially the call centre strategy will be implemented gradually, priority being given to those who have failed to keep their first appointment and those of more advanced age. Those who turn down the chance to be vaccinated will be contacted again at a later date and offered the opportunity to change their minds, according to Sr Pedreño.
The minister also clarified that no doses of the vaccines are being administered to people without appointments, but at times those inoculated do include people who are on the lists but have not received the SMS notification.
Only 16.1 per cent of Murcianos have received at least one dose
In the meantime, in some respects the Region of Murcia is lagging behind other parts of the country in terms of the progress made in immunizing the population against Covid. The national Ministry of Health reports that the 300,425 doses administered in Murcia represent only 75.3 per cent of those supplied, as opposed to a nationwide average of 87.4 per cent, and the Region also reports the lowest percentage of the population vaccinated in the 70- to 79-year-old age group (14.35 per cent having received the first dose, compared with 31.8 in the country as a whole).
This is the lowest figure among the 17 regions, and Murcia is also the last in the table showing the percentage of the whole population of vaccination age to have received at least one dose: 16.1 per cent as opposed to the national average of 21.5 per cent and figures of over a quarter in Galicia, La Rioja and Asturias.
However, Juan José Pedreño is optimistic that over the next few days significant increases can be achieved, and during the weekend thousands more Murcianos have been notified of appointments, including 4,000 in Torre Pacheco, 4,000 in Lorca. 2,000 in the Nueva Condomina in Murcia and many more in Cartagena, Alcantarilla, Abarán, Totana, Las Torres de Cotillas, Archena, Yecla, Lorquí and Ceutí.