A health worker prepares to inoculate the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus to Chinese nationals living in Sri Lanka, at the Colombo Port City project premises, in Colombo on April 6, 2021, after local health authorities cleared the use of the Chinese-made jab only for Chinese nationals resident in the island. (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)
I didn’t have very high hopes when I set out into the bitter cold yesterday morning in search of a jab.
After all, the power had gone off in the early hours of the morning and we had woken up to a trickle of water. Just another day in the Republic of SNAFU.
My experience with the electronic vaccination data system (EVDS) hadn’t been that great either. After registering way back in April, I had not got any further SMS communication, however.
There have been conflicting reports about whether “walk-ins” are being accepted at vaccination sites. A friend then said she had reregistered and, while waiting for her SMS, had found that the Danie Van Zyl community hall in Newlands was accepting walkins.
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And she and her hubby had walked in at 2.45pm on Monday and were done by 4.15pm.
I took my ID book, medical aid card and phone (expecting to have to surf the internet for hours while I waited) and headed for Newlands.
Right from the start, when I was met at a “screening” desk, the process couldn’t have gone smoother.
Checking of the ID book, taking of my personal details and filling in a basic health questionnaire were done in minutes and I was ushered to a seat to wait.
It was only for a few minutes before I was guided into a hall where I again gave my details and was checked against the EVDS data base, I assume, by a staffer using a smartphone.
Then, I was pointed to a row of seven chairs, behind another seven similar rows.
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Parcels of seven people were carefully shepherded along to the vaccination room, where there were seven inoculation stations.
At mine, nurse Teboho Letuka double-checked my health status. She recorded the vaccine batch number and time of inoculation.
She was polite enough to smile when I assured her I was indeed over the age of 60, because it is easy to mistake me for 37.
After another 10 minutes or so sitting in the “observation” section – in case of immediate adverse reactions – it was all done. Time in: 8.50am. Time out: 9.30am.
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