Repeated Booking Failures for Ages 50-52 the Day Before
Fourth 'System Outage' Following 12th, 14th, and 19th
IT Industry: "External Assistance Needed After Accurate Diagnosis"
The COVID-19 vaccination pre-registration system has been causing problems day after day. In addition to connection delays, coding errors and crashes have turned it into a veritable 'total disaster.' The phrase 'IT powerhouse' seems ironic in this context. Although the government is trying to increase servers and fix errors, it is insufficient to resolve the connection issues.
During the reservation for those aged 50 to 52, which started at 8 p.m. on the 20th, connection failures occurred repeatedly again. Right after the reservation opened, a surge of users caused disruptions in accessing the reservation site. After 10 minutes from the start, a message appeared stating 'There are about 80,000 people waiting ahead,' and an hour later, the number of people waiting soared to 200,000. Additionally, a problem was found where users were returned to the reservation system's first screen while waiting. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency stated, "We found a functional concern and took emergency measures."
This is not the first time confusion has occurred during the pre-registration process. There have been a total of four site 'crashes' including on the 12th (reservation for ages 55-59), the 14th (resumption of reservation due to early termination on the 12th), the 19th (reservation for ages 53-54), and the day before. Especially on the 19th, the reservation system operation was suspended just 30 minutes after the start, and the cloud servers were urgently expanded from 4 to 10 units. According to the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, up to 6 million people were waiting at that time.
The authorities have belatedly decided to increase server capacity, but it is expected to be completed only by the end of next month. Since pre-registration for the 18-49 age group, which includes the largest population, is planned next month, connection delays are inevitable for the time being. The pre-registration for those aged 50-54 will open at 8 p.m. today.
The IT industry points out that an accurate diagnosis of the problem should precede efforts to resolve the situation. An industry insider said, "The authorities keep changing their statements on whether the recent issues are due to servers or network problems, indicating that an accurate diagnosis has not been made," adding, "If server expansion is necessary, it can be quickly improved by utilizing servers from other ministries within the Integrated Computing Center." The insider also questioned, "It is puzzling that they are not seeking help from large domestic companies that have high experience in similar development and specialized personnel in each field at the reservation system operation level."
Online, so-called 'backdoor' access methods are being shared, increasing confusion. The authorities say they are immediately blocking reservation methods using workarounds such as 'airplane mode' upon confirmation. However, reservations already made are considered valid. Jeong (23), who participated in pre-registration the day before for his parents' vaccination, said, "Hearing about connection failures, I tried to make a reservation with my younger sibling who is more accustomed to rapid clicking than my parents, but we could not avoid long waiting times," adding, "Our whole family kept waiting on all browsers and used all the tips posted in communities throughout the night."
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