Problems registering for a vaccine using the 18-29 portal?

Download our: Trans Covid-vaccination registration FAQs

Everyone over the age of 18 who hasn’t had their first dose of a covid vaccine can now register at: https://www.nhsinform.scot/vaccineregistration 

We were hearing reports that people selecting the ‘in another way’ or ‘prefer not to say’ options when trying to register for their covid vaccine if they are aged 18-29 were unable to be found on the system, or to book an appointment.

We’d already brought this problem to the attention of the government and Public Health Scotland when people were raising the same issue when trying to find missing appointments, or when registering for an unpaid carer’s vaccine, earlier on in the vaccination programme.

We worked with the Scottish Government to produce some FAQs about registering. You can read them here: Trans Covid-vaccination registration FAQs

The short version is:

✅ It is possible to register if you select ‘in another way’ or ‘prefer not to say’ at the gender question, but this could make finding your record harder!

📞 If you have problems registering, you can call the Vaccine Helpline on: 0800 030 8013 (we’ve sent a briefing to the vaccine helpline team explaining some of the problems for trans people, which hopefully means you’ll have a good experience on the call if you do have any problems)

We’ve been hearing that some trans people are concerned that they have not been invited for their COVID-19 vaccine when they should have been. This is not happening to all trans people, and many have received their invitations as normal.

We’ve checked with NHS Practitioner Services and there is no reason that updating your medical records should mean you haven’t been called.

If you’re aged 30 or over, you should receive an invitation in the post. To report that you have not been invited for an appointment, you should fill out an NHS Inform Missing Appointment Details form: https://www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine/invitations-and-appointments/missing-appointment-details 

The Scottish COVID-19 Vaccination Helpline is also available on 0800 030 8013 (open daily, 8am-8pm). In most instances, you should fill in a form rather than calling the helpline.

If you are still experiencing problems, this might be because your GP has made a mistake when updating your patient records (although could be because of another issue, such as a medical condition that would make you eligible not being recorded properly). In this case, you should contact your GP to let them know about the problem with your invitation, and ensure they have used this guidance from NHS Practitioner Services on how to update your records: https://www.ngicns.scot.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2014-06-25-Requirements-for-Processing-a-Change-of-Gender-and-Title-NSS-FOI.pdf

If after using the above help and advice you are still experiencing problems, please email vic@equality-network.org and we will see if we can help.