| His Ideas 36 ~ Vaccination (1) |
June 10, 2021
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| On this day, he took his mother and aunt to a clinic where he had made a reservation for their vaccinations. At first, he had thought that having vaccinations at each clinic or hospital wasn't a good idea, because it would create congested waiting areas and crowded parking lots. He heard that a bottle of Pfizer's vaccines had to be given to 6 people soon. If it is a small clinic, would some precious vaccinations be wasted? Simply, he had thought that vaccinations should be done in only a few very big facilities, which have big parking lots. Also, he thought that the vaccinations should be done efficiently and speedily, like a factory. But, the result was different than what he expected. He drove his car with his mother, and stopped by his aunt's house where his aunt and another relative were waiting. The relative helped his aunt, who had difficulty walking. The four of them proceeded to the clinic. One week before, he was at his mother's house, and was looking on his smartphone. On this particular day, his city's vaccination reservation for 85 to 89 years old residents had started. In his city, for people over 65, the reservation list was broken down into 5 year units for vaccinations. It started from the oldest. He went to his city's webpage. Following the instructions, he filled out the registration number from his  mother's document, and other items like her name and birth day. Then, there appeared a list of names of clinics and hospitals arranged by neighborhood areas all over the city. He chose the nearest area to his mother's house. There appeared several clinics. He selected one and clicked. A calendar of this month appeared. He choose the following Tuesday. He could see 3 vacancies from 11:30 to 12:00, so he chose it. Soon a sentence "The reservation was completed" popped up. He started to make another reservation for his aunt... He didn't expect the registration process to be this easy because he heard that people had a hard time registering, or booking was full. He thanked his good fortune. The national government only asked each municipality to prioritize senior citizens, people over 65, for the vaccination leaving the details up to each city. Some cities took reservations from everyone over 65, while others, like his city, made tier-system. Maybe some people's complaint was due to this. When they got to the clinic's parking lot, it wasn't crowded. As they reached the clinic 20 minutes or so earlier than the scheduled time, he asked at the counter whether they should wait, the female clerk said no. When they were moving from the parking lot, a nurse who happened to pass by looked at his aunt, and she started to help her along with his relative. Like the parking area, the waiting room wasn't crowded, either. Maybe it was because the clinic only took a suitable number of reservations. His mother and aunt handed their documents along with a health form, and were asked to measure their temperature. After a while they were called in, and got their shots, respectively. They said that it didn't hurt at all. After a 15 minute observation time period, they were asked about their condition, then were able to take a reservation for their 2nd vaccinations, three weeks later, same day, same time. They left. To come to think of it, he thought, giving vaccinations at a local clinic or hospital has some merits. Doctors and nurses don't need to go to a different facility, just to stay and give shots. It reduces their time loss and stress. Plus, the vaccination period would last a long time, at least for several months. In addition, clinics and hospitals would be compensated depending on the number of vaccinations given. During this time, many clinics and hospitals had a hard time because of decreasing number of patients due to the restrictions of going out. Recently, he watched on TV that in one city, a doctor who gave vaccinations to 4 people, was able to visit a house of a patient who couldn't move in order to give two shots, to the patient and his wife, who was taking care of her husband. This time, he learned that he readily criticized government policies. Sometimes they thought more than him. (To be continued ...) |
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No.347
*congested :混雑した
*break down :細分化する
*registration :登録
*prioritize :優先する
*up to :任せる
*tier :階層
*due to :による
*respectively :それぞれ
*compensate :補償する
*restriction :制限
*readily :すぐに