On March 24, the Government announced that residents aged 45 to 59 can start registering their interest for Covid-19 vaccinations.

I am one of the enthusiastic ones who registered the very next morning on March 25, after failed attempts to register on the night of announcement as the system appeared to be overloaded.

As I did not get any SMS to schedule an appointment, I registered again on March 26 and March 29.

Each time, I would get an SMS to say that the authorities have received my registration and will notify me via SMS when I can make an appointment.

By then, I learned that my relatives, friends as well as others, including foreign residents in this age group, who registered around the same time as me, had received their SMS to book an appointment for vaccination.

Puzzled as to why I have yet to receive any news, I registered again on April 1.

This time, I got another similar SMS saying that I will be notified as soon as there are slots available for booking. The message added that I will not be required to re-submit another registration. I presume this is because I have already done so four times.

Unfortunately, to-date, I have yet to receive an SMS to schedule a vaccination appointment. 

Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary explained in Parliament on Monday (April 5) that due to the “strong response” of residents aged 45 to 59, it “may take some time” for those who have registered to receive the invitations through SMS to make appointments for their vaccination.

But my experience makes me wonder how do the authorities prioritise the order in which residents get to make vaccination bookings? Is it on a first-come-first-served basis for instance?

I hope the authorities can provide more clarity on this. 

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