A system failure in a cloud computing system provided by U.S.-based IT company Salesforce.com Inc. paralyzed COVID-19 vaccination reservation systems operated by local governments across Japan on Wednesday.
A number of local governments that use the Salesforce service experienced a series of problems, including the inability to confirm reservations.
Most of the system failures were rectified by noon. Local governments and the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry are investigating the effects of the trouble.
According to Salesforce, the failure occurred Wednesday morning in a cloud system that its clients use to store data and use software through the internet. The service is used by companies and government agencies around the world. The reservation system operated by local governments nationwide and also the health ministry's system for managing vaccine delivery and inventory were not available.
In Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture, officials had been accepting reservations for seniors aged 85 and above by phone or using the Line free messaging app since May 10, but they lost the ability to enter reservation information. In Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, reservations for vaccinations by phone and Line were also suspended. Services in both cities were restored by around noon.
In Meguro Ward, Tokyo, a mass vaccination of about 2,000 elderly people aged 75 and above was scheduled to be held on Wednesday, but it became impossible to confirm whether the people who came to the vaccination venue had actually made reservations. For those who arrived at the venue, officials assumed that they had reservations and proceeded with the vaccinations. New reservations by phone also could not be accepted for a while.
At some sites, people were supposed to make a reservation for a second dose after the first vaccination, but some could not. An 86-year-old woman who received the vaccine said anxiously, "I don't know when I can make my next appointment."
Parker Harris, chief technology officer of Salesforce, said in a Twitter post around 11 a.m. JST on Wednesday, "Services are significantly restored though we are still not out of impact."
In another issue regarding services provided by Salesforce, it has been found that personal information stored by dozens of municipalities and companies in Japan could have been viewed by unauthorized third parties since the end of last year. The National center of Incident readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC) has called for caution, warning that the risk of information leaks could increase.
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