OTTAWA -- City of Ottawa officials say they’re seeing improvements in the provincial online booking system for COVID-19 vaccinations after many users experienced problems this week.

Several residents told CTV News Ottawa they tried to book their first and second appointments this week when Ontario expanded eligibility to people aged 75 and older, but were unable to progress through the online form because there was no way to book a second appointment.

"Daily discussions with the province are ongoing to identify and address issues as quickly as possible so we can continue with our successful rollout of vaccinations," said Anthony Di Monte, Ottawa's general manager of emergency and protective services.

Over 41,830 Ottawa residents over the age of 75 have booked an appointment through Ontario's online booking system since its launch on March 15.

Di Monte said Wednesday there have been improvements with the booking portal. More than 4,000 people booked a COVID-19 vaccination appointment in Ottawa over the past 12 hours (as of 2 p.m. Wednesday).

"We have seen some change in the last 12 to 14 hours. There was some changes done by the province overnight," said Di Monte.

"The booking system has improved and so people are now able to book."

Ontario's Ministry of Health told CTV News Ottawa Wednesday afternoon that the issues appear to have been resolved.

"The issue where there appeared to be no available first or second dose appointments has been resolved and timeslots have now opened up for booking. Steps are being taken to prevent this from happening again," said the ministry.

The city is operating four mass vaccination clinics, with each clinic operating two shifts a day.

"Adding additional capability will continue if we receive more vaccine," said Di Monte.

"We know how important is it to protect our most vulnerable and getting our lives back to some semblance of normal, and we're committed to making this happen."

As of Wednesday, the city has administered 106,508 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. A one-day record 5,588 doses were administered on Tuesday in Ottawa.

MAYOR WANTS OTTAWA PHARMACIES TO ADMINISTER THE VACCINE

Mayor Jim Watson has written a letter to Ontario's Ministry of Health, asking that Ottawa be "urgently prioritized" in the pharmacy vaccine rollout.

Kingston is the only city in eastern Ontario approved to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to residents over the age of 60. Pharmacies in Toronto and Windsor-Essex County are also administering the COVID-19 vaccine.

"The reality is that we looked at the situation, we understand the hotspot being Toronto it would make some sense to have pharmacies provide the vaccination there, but they also sent it to Kingston, and Kingston as you know has got fewer hotspots and fewer counts of COVID, even on a per capita basis than the city of Ottawa," said Watson.

"We need more distribution points, because as we start to go down the age scale there's going to be more and more people signing up for vaccinations. So if we can disseminate those people not just to the big, large centres we have operational now, but to pharmacists or to their family physicians, that's going to take a lot of pressure off the large scale operations we have open now."

Watson says Ottawa is the second largest city in Ontario and has geographic challenges that could be addressed with pharmacies administering the vaccines.

The mayor adds he's heard "rumblings" three pharmacies in Ottawa will administer the COVID-19 vaccine, but nothing has been announced.

DATA ERROR

A data error with Ontario's online booking system resulted in 3,100 vaccination appointments being double-booked for March 23, 24 and 25.

Di Monte says Ontario health officials were unable to reach more than 1,400 residents to reschedule their appointments, and they showed up at vaccination clinics this week to receive the vaccine.

Two temporary clinics were opened in Ottawa to accommodate the extra appointments booked in Ottawa this week.

"Every resident that showed up for an appointment yesterday received a vaccine," said Di Monte.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Ted Raymond.