It took my brother less than two minutes to finish his online registration for his Covid-19 vaccination in the city of Manila. He did this all on the built-in Internet app on his phone, no extra app needed. The following day, he got his vaccine. He can easily access his vaccination passport, which contained all the information he needed, such as the date of his first shot and the schedule for his next.
Out of curiosity, I compared the process with that of Quezon City. To clarify, I focused only on their online registration processes, excluding the onsite vaccination queues, documents to be presented onsite, politics, and other factors.
Quezon City has two options for online registration: assisted booking which first requires a QCitizen ID, or self-booking through EZConsult. Long story short, assisted booking took way over 15 minutes just to finish the first step of applying for a QCitizen ID, assuming all requirements are complete. This is followed by the waiting time for approval, then compliance with corrections in case of rejection, then more waiting for approval, then finally the next step: registration for the vaccine. Especially when compared to the online registration in Manila, the QC site was not exactly mobile-friendly.
As for the self-booking option, filling up the application took up less time, but the approval has taken over 24 hours and counting. I checked Quezon City’s official page to see if other residents shared the same experience, and the comments section of their posts reveal the residents’ collective confusion and frustration over the application process.
Meanwhile, the entire registration process for the city of Manila really took less than two minutes, no approval needed. The online process required only personal information, a selfie, and a one-time pin, and the web site already gave a QR code to be presented onsite along with the required documents. No ID was required, which was inclusive since not everyone has an ID, and not everyone can get one at this time anyway.
Contrasting the ease of vaccine registration in these two cities was interesting considering that first, Manila and Quezon City have the highest active cases in NCR Plus with over 10,000 each as of this writing; and second, these two are both major cities with huge budgets. Only time will tell the effects of the ease of vaccine registration process, but for now, it’s probably logical to theorize that more residents from cities with easier vaccine registration will get their vaccines soon.
So kudos to whoever was in charge of Manila’s online registration system. That’s how the registration should be—simple, accessible, quick, and user-friendly. No extra apps, no approval time, and no excessive information demanded. Registration for vaccination should be aimed at encouraging more people to get the shot anyway—it shouldn’t be for suspicious data gathering by local governments or preventing non-residents from getting a shot. Everyone gains if more people get the vaccine, so the process should be easy. Some people are already hesitant about getting vaccinated, so adding to that by making the registration complicated is just making things worse.
The government has been banking on the vaccine as though it would miraculously end the pandemic, so now that some batches are here, why aren’t they making the vaccination process much easier? Why haven’t they figured out the most efficient vaccination process, when they’ve had a year to prepare? Why is the online registration process per LGU in the first place, making some residents luckier than those from cities with more difficult systems?
Much of the conversation right now is focused on how many new cases there are per day, which brands are currently available, and which groups should be prioritized for vaccination.
While these conversations are important, we should also consider the practical aspects of the vaccination program, like the online registration systems, or even the queueing environment, leniency with onsite requirements, and asking why some people don’t want a vaccine in the first place. With the way things are, it’s difficult to immediately change the disheartening number of cases per day, the available brands of vaccines, and which people should be included in the priority groups. But for now, it’s easier to demand change when it comes to the more tangible systems like the ease of online registration to get a vaccine. Maybe we can start there — if not for ourselves, at least for those who struggle with technology and complex forms to fill up. Again, vaccination programs should be aimed at making the vaccine accessible to the most number of people possible.
We have the right to demand these changes. Government officials are not our bosses; they are here to serve and represent us, and to listen to our voices. The vaccine is the only option we have right now, since other solutions such as truly effective contact-tracing, mass testing, and real lockdowns with subsidies seem to be unavailable, if not ignored. So while we’re early in the vaccination program, we can demand for accessibility to ensure that when the rest of the batches arrive, more people can get the shot easily, and it might even change the minds of those hesitant to get their shot.
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1 comment
Am from QC and I have been waiting for my vaccination request to be approved for more than 1 week now. Luckily, I already got my QCitizen ID after 3 months of waiting. My brother who submitted his application for QCitizen ID since late last year is not as fortunate. He is still waiting up to now. Likewise, his request for vaccination which he filed 3 weeks ago is still up in the air.
But he is more fortunate than me in the sense that he was able to get his first shot of vaccine as walk-in, without appointment, without QCitizen ID or QR Code, etc. Ha ha ha! Only in the Philippines