The COVID-19 vaccine is currently being distributed around the USA to frontline workers and the elderly population, but how does one go about actually getting the vaccine? Among the serious vaccination distribution challenges now confronting the nation is how to schedule your vaccination, especially when demand is reaching a fever pitch.
That crucial question was a major focus of a recent segment of ABC News’ Vaccine Watch. According to the ABC piece, a key reason why it’s difficult to schedule your vaccination is that the vaccine is not being distributed as quickly as anticipated. The problem is that hospitals and retail pharmacies don’t have the extra staff to handle immunization services for hundreds of thousands of patients on top of their regular responsibilities. While these frontline healthcare providers have done a commendable job with what they have, according to ABC, they’ve struggled to figure out how to schedule the COVID-19 vaccinations.
As it does so frequently, technology is riding to the rescue. The ABC story reported on how EnlivenHealth’s CareScheduler automates the manual and time-consuming tasks involved with scheduling vaccinations, freeing up the pharmacists’ and hospital’s time and enabling them to manage both the COVID-19 immunizations and their regular day to day patient needs.
The Vaccine Watch program interviewed Danny Sanchez, Vice President and General Manager of EnlivenHealth™, a leading provider of patient engagement and communications technologies for retail pharmacies and health plans. Sanchez said that it is “imperative that pharmacies have proactive outreach campaigns to help patients schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment.” Sanchez also mentioned that it’s important to use high touch methods like the tried and true telephone to reach certain populations – like elderly people – that would be harder to reach via digital channels.
You can watch the Vaccine Watch segment in its entirety here.