The Quezon City government scrapped on Tuesday its contract with Zuellig Pharma Corporation for COVID-19 vaccination appointment booking services due to technical difficulties experienced by residents using its eZConsult website.

It said it would also seek damages from the company due to "delays, inconvenience, and frustration" that the residents experienced as well as consider filing civil and criminal charges against the company for breach of contract.

The local government made the move after disgruntled residents “had to endure a queuing system” again to book for a vaccination slot, with some having to wait for hours.

Mayor Joy Belmonte said the local government already gave Zuellig enough time to improve its eZConsult sytem and even gave it an ultimatum but the system "crashed again for the 9th time."

"We don't want to cause undue stress to our constituents who only want to register for vaccination," Belmonte said.

"Earlier, they reported an upgrade of their system which supposedly could already accommodate up to 50,000 users at a time. However, their system crashed again when we opened new slots. Imbes na mapadali, napabagal pa ang ating registration process (Instead of expediting the process, it slowed down our registration)," she added.

City Lawyer Orlando Casimira pointed out that Zuellig breached their contractual obligations to the city "after failing to deliver on their commitment to improvement their service as previously agreed."

"The Information Technology portion of the Service Agreement with the city government will be terminated and damages will be claimed against Zuellig because of the delays, inconvenience, and frustration that our QCitizens have experienced," Casimiro said.

Under Section 9 of the agreement, Zuellig is liable to pay liquidated damages amounting to one tenth of one percent of the contract price for every day of delay until the project is completed.

Since March 27, 2021, eZConsult has reported several technical difficulties that caused the city government delays in providing vaccines to its residents in a quick and timely manner.

The city government is also considering filing civil and criminal charges against Zuellig for its failure to meet its contractual obligation and "for the interest of our (residents) and to protect their rights," Belmonte said.

Belmonte called on residents having a hard time booking a slot through the eZConsult website to register instead through the city government-assisted QC Vax Easy portal https://qceservices.quezoncity.gov.ph/qcvaxeasy.

Those who were able to book a slot for July 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are advised to proceed to the vaccination site of their choice as scheduled.

The city government said that until the contract termination has been finalized, all ongoing bookings are still valid.

Those scheduled for second dose should also follow the date indicated in their card and take the jab at the same site where they had their first dose.

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QC gov't scraps contract with Zuellig Pharma Corp. over delays in COVID-19 vaccination booking appointment services