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The NJ vaccine hotline is temporarily suspending the booking of appointments for the COVID vaccine, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said during the governor’s briefing on the coronavirus on Wednesday.
Representatives will also receive new training, she said.
“Since last night we have put a temporary hiatus on the ability of the call center to make appointments,” said Persichilli. “We found that we needed to streamline the agent-side system and provide additional training for agents.”
Frustrated callers to the hotline told NJ Advance Media that they received confusing information from the hotline representatives, including that they could not make an appointment over the phone or that they were not. not eligible even though they were part of an eligible group. Others were told they had to use the link for the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System (NJVSS) to get a date or that the system was down.
Persichilli said in general, “the training will be on how to use the system”, with some training on registering people “but more training on making appointments”.
“We found it was not as easy as we thought it would be. It ended with things like double bookings which we can’t have, ”she said, noting that reps“ were doing pretty well ”on questions frequently asked by callers.
The commissioner noted that the call center is new and that the state knows “the areas in which it needs more training”.
“The system itself has had issues and we speak directly with Microsoft, which is the vendor, almost every day to resolve these issues,” she said.
Governor Phil Murphy agreed there were issues with the seller.
“It continues to be an ongoing challenge. It feels like one step forward, two steps back with the supplier, ”Murphy said.
The governor also said they plan to “swell” the staff, which now numbers around 250.
The system can provide information and help people pre-register, Persichilli said.
The call center, open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, can be reached at (855) 568-0545.
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Statehouse reporter Matt Arco contributed to this report.
Karin Price Mueller can be contacted at [email protected].
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