HealthEngine to build COVID-19 vaccine booking platform

The Department of Health has selected HealthEngine to build the booking platform for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

The Department will launch the COVID-19 Vaccination Information and Booking Service in the next few weeks to support the nationwide vaccination program.

HealthEngine will provide a solution that is suitable as a standalone booking option that complies with government requirements around accessibility, privacy and security. It will be designed primarily for clinics without an extant online booking system to quickly get online for the program.

Clinics with existing booking systems will be encouraged to use their existing systems.

HealthEngine CEO Dr Marcus Tan said the project will be complex, but that the company will be able to modify its existing platform for the task.

“Given the very tight timeframes involved and the complexity of such a project, we are under no illusions about the challenge we have signed up to,” he said.

“However, the opportunity to support a historic public health effort involving millions of Australians, by assisting the federal government with a very important piece of national digital health infrastructure, was one we simply couldn’t pass up. We’re honoured to be selected by the Department of Health for the job.”

Australia’s first COVID-19 vaccination was administered on 21 February, and an initial batch of 300,000 Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines arrived at the end of the month. The bulk (50 million) of these vaccines will be manufactured onshore at CSL facilities.

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