A local resident has expressed concern over accessing vaccination passports.

Audrey Fegan who lives in Enniskillen has been struggling to get a vaccination passport from The Department of Health (The Department) ahead of her upcoming holiday.

The current system offered by The Department allows applications up to three months prior to departure and the certificate is valid for three months from the date of application.

Audrey has had an issue regarding identity verification due to change of address prior to her coronavirus vaccination and changing her surname after marriage.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter, Audrey said: “When I went to get my vaccination my old address was on the system and it was not able to changed at the time. Now I can’t get my vaccine passport processed as it is linked to my old address.”

Audrey has sent various ID to the Department of Health in order to get her identity verified to obtain her vaccination passport. She said: “I have sent them copies of my documents; copies of my birth certificate, passport, driving licence, a bank statement, and a utility bill.

“My driving licence is in my old name as I didn’t want to send it away to get updated during the Covid as I was afraid it would get lost or misplaced due to the lockdown. I sent them copies of my marriage certificate to show my change of name, but they won’t accept that as it’s from the Republic of Ireland.”

“I have even sent them selfies three times as they asked for that as evidence to prove your ID!” Audrey added, her frustration clear.

The issues with the vaccination passport scheme in Northern Ireland have been ongoing since the service was announced.

The system is different to what is present in The Republic of Ireland where the authorities post out a vaccination passport to those who have been double vaccinated.

Audrey spoke of the frustrations and said: “It is incredibly frustrating as I have been trying to contact them every day for the past week. The line is very busy, and you get an automated message if there is no answer. They advise that you can apply up to a week before hand but if I had left this to the week before, I wouldn’t be getting on holiday.”

At the time of going to print, Audrey had not received her certificate from the Department of Health.

The Department of Health was approached for comment on the issue by The Impartial Reporter and said: “The NI Direct website advise that the service is currently experiencing extremely high levels of demand.

It states: “The NI COVID Certification Service is experiencing extremely high levels of demand - apologies for any inconvenience.

“The phone service is also extremely busy and is only for people who cannot apply online. It is not a helpline and cannot respond to queries about applications made online, including questions about identity verification.

“If you phone and get a recorded message, the call will end after it has finished to prevent a lengthy wait for an available operator.

“You should fully read the guidance on this page to check that everything has been correctly completed.”