Shadow Minister for Health Giulia Jones is calling on the Labor-Greens Government to improve the COVID-19 vaccine booking system, following a number of complaints from Canberrans who have struggled to sign up.

Mrs Jones said constituents have continually raised issues with being unable to make a booking online due to the system not recognising some Medicare cards.

“We really want Canberrans to be able to book their appointments as easily as possible and have confidence in the system,” said Mrs Jones.

“The website is backed up by Medicare data and my understanding is that we will need to update that data again, so more people can make bookings online.

“At the moment if someone is having trouble with the online booking system, they need to make a phone call and many Canberrans are then waiting over two hours on hold; that simply isn’t good enough.

“It is clear we need more people in the call centre to get waiting times down to an acceptable level and the latest Medicare data backing up the online booking system so more Canberrans can book online.

The Canberra Liberals and I want to support the government in getting everyone vaccinated. Many Canberrans are trying to do the right thing, they are trying to book in, but they are waiting too long.

“If we need more Medicare data from the Federal Government, I am happy to assist in any way I can to get that information because we need to get as many people as we can vaccinated in the ACT,” Mrs Jones concluded.