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Overloaded federal government million-dollar vaccination hotline
| Reading time: 3 minutes
Corona vaccine: information on this over the phone should not be easy to get
Quelle: alliance of images / dpa
The Health Ministry spends millions on call centers to organize corona vaccines. But although the big rush is still expected, callers have to wait a long time.
reThe Federal Ministry of Health now uses the number 116117, previously reserved for the on-call medical service, as the corona vaccination hotline. According to an investigation by WELT AM SONNTAG, the ministry expects up to 500,000 calls per week during peak hours at the beginning of the year. These must be answered and processed 24 hours a day with the help of call centers with up to 2,500 employees.
However, there are currently some issues with longer wait times. We are currently investigating “very serious indications of a hotline overload,” a ministry spokesperson said when asked by WELT AM SONNTAG. Initial findings indicated technical reasons. For example, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Health reported waiting times of more than ten minutes.
The operation of the call center will initially cost 50.64 million euros. This arises from a later publication of the Federal Ministry of Health. Consequently, a German subsidiary of the world’s leading British advertising agency, WPP, has received the order. As a general contractor, the Frankfurt-based gkk Digital Group will subcontract with call centers and provide the necessary technology.
From the Federal Ministry of Health it is said: This is a provisional award to guarantee the operation of the hotline until an award is awarded in a European-wide award initiated in parallel. This could happen in mid-March. The more than 50 million euros ensured the operation of the hotline even if the next tender was delayed.
When ordering the hotline, the Health Ministry admits that it had to act quickly. Citizens need an easy way to get answers to their questions about Corona “quickly, reliably and professionally”. Literally: “This is the only way to prevent information seekers from being negatively influenced by inappropriate or interest-based offers prior to vaccination.”
Capacity is increased
According to the ministry, since December 21 call centers with around 1,100 employees have been in operation, which could process up to 200,000 inquiries per week. “The utilization rate is currently a little over 60 percent,” says the ministry. Starting on January 8, the maximum capacity will gradually increase to 500,000 weekly calls. This means there is criticism for long wait times despite still moderate occupancy.
Managing the establishment of the necessary hotline capabilities is a major challenge for the Frankfurt-based gkk Digital group. The tender documents show that in addition to the technical network, a database must be created and stored with answers to the many questions that are expected. The Federal Ministry of Health is developing them together with the Robert Koch Institute and the Paul Ehrlich Institute.
So far, the gkk Digital Group had not received any orders from the Federal Ministry of Health as part of the Corona information campaign.
If gkk Digital Group also wins the tender in the European hotline award procedure, the order will be extended for another four and a half to six and a half months until mid-2021. Digital group gkk did not comment on the request.
This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We will be happy to take them to your home periodically.
Source: Welt am Sonntag
