Applicants left fuming over technical hitches in signing up for AstraZeneca vaccine slots

PETALING JAYA: Registering for the AstraZeneca vaccine this time around proved to be quite a challenge for applicants.

Just as they were ready to register when the site opened at noon, the Covid-19 Immunisation Taskforce (CITF) sent a tweet informing them that registrations would be delayed by 15 minutes as the technical team was working to update the site.

“The booking page is still being updated. You can begin to book your slot for 12.15pm. Apologies for the inconvenience, ” it tweeted on Wednesday (May 26).

As work was carried out to fix the site, some applicants noticed that the “register now” button kept appearing on and disappearing from the website.

When applicants tried to access the site around 12.15pm, some received a notification telling them they have been blocked from the registration site at www.vaksincovid.gov.my and there were those who received a message indicating there were too many requests to access the site.

The site was finally accessible around 12.20pm but the problems did not end there.

There were complaints of not being able to select preferred appointments as the grid with the appointment dates would not load after applicants clicked on their respective states.

There were also complaints of applicants not receiving a message after completing their registration, leaving them wondering if their applications went through.

However, there were those who successfully managed to register. Close to 1pm, CITF tweeted that more than 300,000 of the slots up for grabs on Wednesday had already been taken.

“We understand that many are still unable to do so. Please try again shortly, ” the committee said.