Appointments for the 12th round of vaccinations got off to a rocky start Monday morning as users rushed to book a shot, resulting in lagging and waits of up to 15 minutes. More booking slots will open up on Tuesday at 10 a.m. and at 2 p.m. for registrants to book second doses of AstraZeneca and Moderna, respectively. Meanwhile in Taipei, borough wardens say the city has further complicated the booking process by launching a vaccine system of its own for people aged 65 and up.

People wait with their sleeves rolled up to get a Pfizer shot in the 11th round of vaccinations.

Member of the public
Perhaps you can feel a bit more at ease this way, you just get what they have. There aren’t many options.

Member of the public
This time can choose your location, maybe someplace closer. If you’re too late to make an appointment, though, you’ll have to choose somewhere else, and that could be too far away.

Shots are going out in the 11th round of vaccinations, and soon the 12th round will kick off. Appointments became available on Monday morning at 10, but users reported lagging due to heavy traffic.

Users say they had to wait 15 minutes to make an appointment, and even then all slots were already fully booked. Some say they had to make appointments outside of their district they live in. The 12th round of vaccines will offer three different brands.

First doses of Pfizer are available for more than 1.35 million people aged 30 and up, with appointments bookable starting Monday at 10 a.m. Meanwhile, second doses of AstraZeneca are available to about 960,000 people aged 38 and older, who can schedule an appointment starting Tuesday at 10 a.m. The round will also administer second shots of Moderna to about 662,000 people, who can book a shot starting 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

Shih Yu-ting
Borough warden
From the first round till now, it’s been the same problem. The system always freezes, for example from 10 a.m. till now the system has been lagging. In the past we’ve waited up to half an hour.

Some older adults showed up at the warden’s office in the early morning to get assistance in booking a Moderna shot. Previously, the shots were only available at the Taipei Expo Dome, and not at local clinics. This time around, Taipei residents aged 65 and up can pick a clinic close to home to book their second shot of Moderna. But they must do so over the city’s own vaccine booking system, which further complicates matters for borough wardens.

Shih Yu-ting
Borough warden
What I don’t get about Moderna is that the Taipei Department of Health website suddenly launched priority registration for older adults, and any remaining slots went to younger registrants. The situation now is very confusing, since there are two booking systems operating simultaneously, the 1922 central government platform and the Taipei City platform.

The borough warden says the two online systems are only making things more difficult. With With vaccine shipments continuously rolling in, the systems may be subject to reviews on a rolling basis. The CECC says it expects to receive about 1 million vaccines each month in the future. Taiwan is currently to reach two-dose coverage of 60% before the end of the year.