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Shot In the arm

 

Image of heath care worker holding up a Covid-19 vaccination in an injection ready to be administered.
Photo: AA

My mum took the first dose of her Covid-19 jab yesteday, it was the AstraZeneca vaccine administered at a primary health care centre. This first phase of vaccinations covers different groups of people including healthcare workers and all emergency responders, security agencies, the judiciary, teachers and folks aged 70 years and above.

There was an information poster on the gate at the entrance to the health centre with information about all eligible groups and procedure for getting the shot. A generous piece of real estate on the poster was reserved for an image of the local government chairman for that area; perhaps a reminder of his benevolence for delivering the vaccine to his propitious constituents. 

The entire process from arrival to getting the actual jab took a little over an hour and this happened with a very light influx of people. The entrance to the health centre was manned by individuals who I would guess were local government employees but whose demeanour came off as that of touts aka area boys.  I witnessed them providing assurances and giving out their numbers to some ineligible persons present, promising to eventually bring them in.

Organisation beyond the gate and entrance holding area was not any better as my octogenarian mum was kept waiting without the established order being strictly maintained and of course the constant streaming in of ‘VIP’ queue circumventers  made the process that much more cumbersome.

Outside the no mask no entry policy, no hand sanitizers were provided at any stage of the entire process. And when I inquired as to why the process took so long, I was made to understand that the internet was required to register participants and of course with the notorious internet networks, registration could take a while. 

It is not my intention to belittle the efforts of the government in providing its citizens with the Covid-19 vaccine but it’s astonishing how our systems at the most basic levels are usually representative of what applies in higher levels. I shudder at what will happen at this particular centre in subsequent phases with probably a larger net of participants.

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