On Monday I booked vaccines for my 40+ spouse in Ontario and then for my 60+ mother in Nova Scotia.

Let me tell you how it went.

The tl;dr version:

Ontario = Serious Hunger Games vibes.

Nova Scotia = Easiest thing I have done this week.

1/

Nova Scotia has a centralized booking system. You go to the provincial website, type in your address & age, & get a list of *all available vaccine appointments in the province.* All of them! Vaccines at major and independent pharmacies, rec & health centres, wherever. 2/

On the Nova Scotia booking website, vaccines are organized by location starting w/ the one closest to you, and each option clearly indicates whether the site has availability or not. You select the location you want, choose a date/time, fill out some personal info … and done. 3/

In Ontario, as many have learned, there is no central booking system. The gov provides a list of locations on its website, and then you’re on your own. We learned after calling many locations that the list isn’t entirely accurate; some listed locations do not offer vaccines. 4/

In Ontario you have to chase vaccines from Costco, Walmart, Shoppers, Rexall, independent pharmacies, all of which have separate and very different booking systems. There are “wait lists” but many people have said they never got calls, so we didn’t want to rely on them. 5/

Gen Xers have compared the Ontario booking process to signing up for ultra-competitive recreation programs in the city of Toronto, or getting tickets to a show via TicketMaster, or snagging a Cabbage Patch doll in the 90s. 6/

My spouse and I spent all of Sunday night and much of Monday morning looking for an appointment for him. We both work from home. The time we had to devote to finding a spot is a privilege many do not have. The process was frustrating. 7/

How did we end up getting an appointment in Ontario? With the help of @VaxHuntersCan ... I signed up for Twitter alerts and pounced when I saw a tweet about availability near us. We called a pharmacy and got an appointment. 8/

Another equity point: With the Nova Scotia system, you cannot double book. If you want to change your appointment, you have to cancel your old one. You can’t hold onto multiple appointments. 9/

Both my mum and spouse are getting vaccinated today. I'm grateful. But for the sake of the people who don't have the time and resources my spouse and I had to book him a vaccine, I wish Ontario had a better system. 10.

One more thing. Here's a screen shot I took of what the Nova Scotia booking system looks like. (I plugged in a random address in Halifax). It may make you weep.

NEW: An Ontario company built Canada’s best vaccine booking system ... for Nova Scotia

I turned the thread into a story. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/04/24/an-ontario-company-built-canadas-best-vaccine-booking-system-for-nova-scotia.html

https://twitter.com/fatimabsyed/status/1387097308551131139