According to the lawmakers, Sudders intends to pull callers from the other existing contracted call centers, two of whom said Sudders explicitly said no one would be moved away from the customer service center for the state’s unemployment benefits.
But the main details of the plan seemed fluid. According to lawmakers, Sudders generally said 400 to 450 callers could handle up to 10,000 calls, but she did not say how many employees the center will staff.
Lawmakers have also said they do not know if the hotline is accessible in multiple languages, something experts and lawmakers have been asking since Governor Charlie Baker said Thursday that the state would set up a call center by next week.
‘I do not think it will be natural enough. But I think it’s a start, ‘said State Senator Anne M. Gobi, a Spencer Democrat who was in talks with Sudders. Gobi is one of 60 lawmakers endorsing legislation passed by Senator Eric P. Lesser, which requires the state to create a 24-hour helpline for people seeking doses.
Kate Reilly, a spokeswoman for the state’s COVID-19 Command Center, did not respond to questions about the call on Friday, saying more information is expected next week.
The current system, online only to discuss vaccinations, has frustrated many residents, especially the elderly, and disadvantaged people who are unable to easily access the internet.
Available appointments have meanwhile been snapped up quickly, including at vaccination mega-venues in Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park, with demand rapidly expanding the state’s already untapped supply of vaccines. Mass vaccinations for people 75 years and older must start Monday.
Officials in other states have created systems to make telephone appointments, including Florida. In Alabama, a state of 4.9 million people, officials created an online portal, but only after the toll-free number set up to schedule appointments was flooded with 1.1 million calls on its first day.
Sudders acknowledged to lawmakers that the Massachusetts website “is not consumer-friendly,” Senator Rebecca L. Rausch, a Democrat from Needham, said Friday.
“I can not upset the question why this was not done earlier and why the site is such a disaster,” Rausch said about setting up the hotline. “A public outcry from Stockbridge to Boston, and an emergency bill from the Legislature, should not have been necessary to establish a call center or a much better website.”
The establishment of the helpline will require an effort on the scale of the state’s dramatic expansion of its unemployment insurance call center during the pandemic. according to Cimarron Buser, CEO of The Appointment Scheduling & Booking Industry Association, a trading group for the software industry in Wellesley Hills.
If you want to avoid the next problem, call people. . . and they are postponed, then you have not really solved the problem, ‘said Buser. “You just moved it to a new medium.”
As the spring pandemic quickly cleared jobs and overwhelmed the customer service center of the Department of Unemployment Aid, officials at one point expanded its staff from 50 to nearly 2,000 people. The officials currently have 670 employees who handle an average of 16,000 calls per day.
Lesser, a Democratic Longmeadow, said the call center would ideally have enough staff so people do not wait longer than 30 minutes. “It has to be one-stop shopping,” he said.
According to public health advocates, the launch of the hotline is a late opportunity to address some of the shortcomings of the vaccine registration system.
Carlene Pavlos, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, said it was crucial that the hotline be available in several languages.
“The access vehicles created by the administration are so much easier for people who already speak English, have a good internet connection, have access to a primary care physician with whom they talk regularly – which is already plugged in,” Pavlos said. . said. “It is precisely communities that are experiencing denial and historical racism and may not speak English as their first language that are left behind.”
Al Vega, director of policy and programs of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health, wants to be more urgent about accessibility.
“I really hope that the governor will continue to hear what these needs are and do good things, like running this hotline, but hopefully be able to do it more efficiently and urgently,” Vega said. “Because people are extremely important.”
Matt Stout can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @mattpstout. Andy Rosen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @andyrosen.