Atmosphere CPaaS stimulates statewide COVID-19 vaccine distribution

By now, most of us recognize the top priority globally is to get the world vaccinated against the deadly and destructive COVID-19 virus. Thankfully, heroic scientists have succeeded in a very short window of opportunity to develop these life-saving vaccines. While this may have been viewed as the most challenging part of the process, we are now learning that distribution is also a massive undertaking. Here in the U.S., news reports are filled with stories of how state health departments, pharmacies, and grocery stores being bombarded with calls, emails, and questions about when individuals are eligible to receive their shot and how they can make an appointment. And yet, with so many Americans anxious for their turn, communication and scheduling issues have caused most states to struggle to administer shots to the first group of eligible citizens. As of January 21, for example, only 22 of the 50 states have been able to use more than half of the vaccines they’ve been given, with less than half of all available vaccines being successfully administered in the US.

In the midst of all the concerns and anxiety regarding vaccine distribution, IntelePeer is honored to be a part of solving some of the distribution issues with our Atmosphere CPaaS.

With vaccine websites crashing and busy signals increasing, a state health department turned to IntelePeer and one of our partners for a way to streamline appointment scheduling and communications the day before a massive vaccine site was set to open. Our team took on the heavy lifting of designing and deploying the solution without additional infrastructure or resources required by the state. To solve the immediate and critical need of this state health department, IntelePeer set up a basic hotline to address the most pressing issues.

This hotline was deployed within 8 hours, leading to:

• an elimination of busy signals with increased capacity for over 100,000 simultaneous calls,
• 30,000 appointments scheduled in the first couple of days
• average call time reduced to 3 minutes
• over 1 million callers serviced in the first couple of days
• To learn more about our existing COVID-19 hotline solution, check out our press release.

We’ve waived our platform and Managed Solutions fees for all vaccination solutions to help get you up and running in as quickly as 8 hours. Give us a call at 855-46COV19 (855-462-6819) to get started.

IntelePeer is incredibly proud and grateful that we’ve been able to positively impact vaccination distribution in one state. Now we’re ready to bring our solution to states across the nation and do our part to help our country begin to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

How else can Atmosphere CPaaS improve COVID-19 vaccine distribution?

Pre-Qualification Survey and Routing

It’s been a confusing process for citizens to understand if and when they’re eligible to receive their vaccination – especially seniors. Scheduling websites continue to crash and are not always accessible to all populations. Avoid overloading your state health call centers, pharmacies, and grocery stores by automating the appointment process. First, Atmosphere can integrate with your internal database to recognize whether a caller is eligible for vaccination yet. If your state does not have a database available, Atmosphere can conduct a preliminary survey to evaluate a caller’s eligibility. Then, eligible callers are routed to an agent who can help schedule a vaccination appointment for them.

Additionally, translated responses or pre-recorded multilingual recordings can respond to the caller in their preferred language. If the caller is transferred to an agent, the call can be routed to an agent who speaks the caller’s language if available. Automating surveys and routing deflects unnecessary traffic from agents, reduces caller frustration, and allows you to book more appointments.

Scheduled Reminders and Confirmations

With millions hoping to get the vaccine as soon as it’s available, many people who are not yet eligible will be calling to get an appointment scheduled. Atmosphere can be configured to provide automated answers to those who are farther down the line in the vaccination process. Callers can request a callback or SMS to let them know when they’re eligible to be vaccinated. We can also set up an FAQ hotline for callers who know they are not yet eligible but are still looking for answers.

When an appointment is scheduled, Atmosphere can send SMS, emails, or automated phone calls to patients to remind them and confirm their appointment. These reminders and confirmations ensure everyone is on the same page, citizens know what they need to before their appointment, and no time slot is wasted.

Scalable and Flexible

During this stressful time, the last thing callers want to hear is a busy signal or that they have a long hold time. IntelePeer fortified our already-strong network with more capacity to ensure no call is lost or dropped. Atmosphere is scalable and can handle large amounts of traffic coming in at once, shown by the 100,000 simultaneous calls serviced in our first vaccine hotline deployment.

Changing policies and administrations mean changing requirements and needs. As new groups become eligible, new vaccination sites open up, and more vaccines get distributed, Atmosphere can be updated in seconds to react to ever-evolving situations. Reduce confusion and panic with reliable phone service and updated information as the vaccination process ramps up and demand increases.

Making an impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has put immense stress on families, schools, the economy, and our country as a whole. IntelePeer believes that we can all make a positive impact by respecting our neighbors and lending a helping hand. We’re excited about a future when we can spend time with our friends and family without fear or inhibitions once again. If we can help your state, county, or company through this hard time, we are here for you. The quicker these solutions can be implemented, the better for all of us.