The way people sign up for the COVID-19 vaccine is changing in Virginia.
Starting Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Health is overseeing the pre-registration process with a new statewide system. Until now, local individual health districts were tasked with ensuring their citizens were properly registered. But now they will be getting extra support from the state.
“Each health district will keep their particular list. While it’s on a new platform, they will be managing their local list,” Dr. Danny Avula said in a tele-conference Friday, the state’s vaccine coordinator.
The new centralized database at the state level hopes to streamline the entire vaccination process.
Last week, local health department websites were directed to stop the pre-registration process online, in order to accommodate this change and switch the information over to the new statewide system.
The VDH says “existing waiting lists are imported to the new system.”
Here are some important facts about the new system:
Those who have already pre-registered for a vaccine with their respective city and have been placed on a waitlist don’t need to worry about losing their place in the waitlist’s queue. The VDH says individuals will maintain their current status.
The effort emphasizes de-duplicating anyone who may have been registered for the vaccine twice.
Those who have already received the vaccine will be removed through the Virginia Immunization Information System.
People on the waitlist will be able to regularly check their vaccine status and will see a virtual confirmation upon registering that to ensure their information is correct
“It will be a standard form across the state. But this is actually one of the most important upgrades, there will be a confirmation on-screen when you put your information in,” Dr. Avula said.
The website to pre-register at is vaccinate.virginia.gov.
