Has Slovakia’s vaccine system dumped thousands of vulnerable people as restaurants and bars re-open?
Restaurant terraces and gyms are about to open again as Slovakia eases coronavirus restrictions.
Measures are said to have slowed the spread of COVID-19 in recent weeks.
The latest easing follows the re-opening of shops, hotels, hair salons, churches, libraries, pools and zoos.
But customer numbers will be restricted and they will have to show a negative COVID-19 test before being allowed in.
Slovakia is also hoping to ‘up’ its vaccination programme. Daily COVID-19 cases in the country have dropped to a seven-day median of 642, after reaching around 3,000 in December and January. Hospitalisations, too, have fallen.
Another worrying rumour is that the new vaccine appointments computer system has missed out up to 70,000 elderly and vulnerable people. Thousands are having to re-apply two or three times for the ‘jab’ without receiving an appointment.
One man had his first ‘jab’ three weeks ago but his wife is still waiting for an appointment to come through.
The problem appears to be that the computer system can’t be over-ridden by an operator.
Ján Jančár, a PhD Student at the Faculty of Informatics, has built his own appointments system and has been critical of the official systems in Slovakia. “I do know that it has flaws. Creating an ideal system is complicated, but no one should try to excuse mistakes by claiming that the job of developing such a system came out of the blue.
“Since we first began fighting this disease, wide-scale vaccination has been touted as a solution, and therefore, vaccine-reservation systems should have been planned well in advance.
“A working reservation system must be much more than just a registration form. That’s something many people don’t realize. Ideally, the system should contact people, not the other way around.”
A system developed by Ján searches for information about free vaccine slots in Slovakia and sends it to users.
He said: “Right now, I am working closely with the people at the official government website, and my goal is for them to put my system on their site.”
Slovakia, like others in central Europe, has shown one of the highest per-capita death tolls during the pandemic, according to Our World in Data.
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