Filenews 4 January 2021
The Vaccination Portal for COVID-19 was presented, through which appointments for the administration of both the first and second dose of vaccines will be arranged.
According to the Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy (ICP), the portal offers a holistic approach to the optimal management of the vaccination programme, providing immediate and valid information to both citizens and competent authorities on the state of its implementation.
In particular, the software, which was developed with the cooperation of the Ministry of Health and the Department of Information Services of the Ministry of Informatics, with a contractor company NCR, contains three "gates": the Portal of Immunization Beneficiaries, which concerns citizens and through which appointments will be arranged, the Portal of Vaccination Centers and the Data Portal that will operate at central level (Ministry of Health). Through the software, the Ministry of Health will be able to monitor both the progress of the programme and the availability and stocks of vaccines, in order to ensure the timely order of new quantities to fully meet the needs of the population. It is noted that the development and use of this software fully ensures the protection of users' personal data.
With regard to arranging appointments, citizens will be able to choose the Vaccination Centre of their choice, having access to the appointment calendar of each Centre, while through the portal an electronic vaccine certificate will be issued and the appointment for the 2nd dose will be arranged. The person will receive a text message on their mobile phone with the details of their appointment, while sms will be sent to remind you of the appointment the day before.
The appointment can be arranged by the person or his representative himself, following one of the following ways:
A. Citizens who are beneficiaries and who have completed their registration with the GHS will be able through the GhS Beneficiaries Portal to arrange vaccination appointments either for themselves or for other beneficiaries provided that they are aware of relevant information concerning the beneficiary. The feature is provided to Beneficiaries who have a user account on the Beneficiary Portal and have proceeded to interface their user account with the beneficiary file.
B. Citizens who are not registered in the OAC Software but who are beneficiaries of the GHS can proceed with their registration with the GHS in order to automatically become beneficiaries of the Vaccination Program. If, however, they do not wish to register in the ODS software program, they may proceed with the procedure described in Section (C).
The software also provides the possibility of arranging appointments to beneficiaries by their Personal Physicians (PS) and/or their support staff.
C. Citizens who are not registered with the GHS software must submit to the Ministry of Health, appropriately completed the Application Form for registration of citizens who are not registered with the GHS in the Vaccination Portal for COVID-19, [see end of this article for form] which is posted on the website of the Ministry of Health and on the specially designed website of the Press and Information Office for Vaccinations for COVID-19. The form must be submitted together with a copy of the Identity Card, the Foreign Registration Card or other Identification Document and a copy of the Nursing ID, in case it holds such. Documents can be sent to the Ministry of Health, electronically at: covidvac@moh.gov.cy, by post to the Ministry of Health at Prodromos 1 and Chilon 17, 1449, Nicosia or delivered by hand to the Nursing Identification Department, Ministry of Health, Prodromos 1 and Chilon 17, Nicosia. After carrying out the relevant check, with the approval of the request, the Ministry of Health will activate the possibility of registering the applicant at the COVID-19 Vaccination Portal. The citizen will be informed accordingly of the decision of the Ministry of Health to approve or not his request, in order to proceed through the Electronic Vaccination Portal for COVID-19 to arrange an appointment to carry out the vaccination in a Vaccination Centre, day and time of preference.
It is clarified that at this stage access to the vaccination programme through the Vaccination Beneficiaries Portal, only persons in the group covered by the second phase of the vaccination programme, i.e. people aged 80 years and over, can have access to the vaccination programme.
For support purposes, citizens will be able to contact the following call centres as follows:
- 1474 - For information on the Vaccination Programme
- 17000 - For technical information during an appointment arrangement from the Gate of the GHS
To arrange an appointment, in case, despite the above, the citizen continues to face difficulties, he will be able to address the Center 1474.
The Deputy Director of Medical and Public Health Services, Dr Olga Kalakouta, stressed that, for the purposes of protecting citizens and public health, all necessary protection and prevention measures from COVID-19 will be observed in the Vaccination Centres. "Once again, the Ministry of Health calls on the population to respond to its call for vaccination against COVID-19, as the most effective measure to protect ourselves and our loved ones from infection and its potential negative effects," he added.
In closing, the Secretary of State stressed that vaccination is not just an investment in science but an investment in life. "The future depends on each of us individually," the Secretary of State said, adding that "We expect the vaccine to be the basis for the creation of the necessary "wall" that will shield our state and society, and allow us to gradually return to normality." Finally, he warmly thanked all those involved both for the excellent cooperation and for the excellent result achieved, within very tight timetables.
