A few days ago I accompanied my parents to a vaccination center. They weren't able to make an appointment through the application that the government had instructed us to do so they opted for a walk-in. Eventhough there are news that some vaccination centers does not entertain walk-in, they were still hopeful that they will be able to get vaccinated.
The vaccination center that we went to was a school. We were there at 8AM and upon entering the school, you will be asked to sign in the attendance sheet. I think you will need to write your name, your baramgay and contact number. I'm not so sure and then you will show your requirements or documents that proves that you are listed in one of the categories who will receive the shot. Currently there are only 3 categories that they prioritize here in the Philippines. First are the medical frontliners, senior citizens and persons with comorbities. Though last night I have heard that they are now going to add the frontline personnel in the essential sectors like of the supermarkets and restaurants.
After signing in the attendance and checking of requirements or documents, you will be given a 2 page questionnaire or something kind of like a waiver or something. There are questions like have you had COVID or was expose to COVID in the last xx days. There was already a queue so you can answer that form while you are in line.
I do not know how it goes in different vaccination centers and in differrent countries as I have only been into 1 center. In United States, my aunt had told me that there were no forms. I think they are just going to brief you with the vaccine that you'll be getting and some things to do if you experience symptoms after and then you'll get your shot. It was that easy so she was so shocked to hear when I told her about the procedures here.
Almost all the queue did not observe social distancing or the 1 meter apart. The first queue was for registration. Since the line was too long, there was a part wherein the chairs were arranged as set A and set B. They were like students taking an exam that you can easily copy from the person in front of you. You can also copy from the person beside as long as you guys have the same exam sheets. In that line, it was a mix of senior and non senior citizen. They only get to prioritize the senior if there were already some vacant seats under the tent.
Registration is where the health personnel will check the forms that you've filled up along with your documents. They are strict with the ID as they really require you to show a government issued ID with your address. If you are a person with comorbidity, they would also ask for some documents and would even ask you some questions with regards to your illness.
If you passed the registration, next step is the vital signs and then the EZ consult registration. Actually with a lot of QR codes that required us to register in different sites and apps, the 2 QR codes that I saved on my dad's phone was not the codes that were needed. The one that was needed was saved on my mom's phone. But since my dad was able to get in the line first, it was an honest mistake that he cut lines, he wasn't able to get the code from my mom. So the health personnel, created a new email address for my dad so he will be able to register in EZ consult.
Actually, 2 nights before their appointment, like I said earlier that I tried to schedule them for an appointment using the EZ consult app. When I tried registering first my dad's email, it says that he was already registered. I was curious as to why because I am the only one who does all these things for them including checking their emails and remembering their passwords. So what I did was to click the forgot password in order for me to log in. When I logged in, informations where already filled up. When I tried with my mom's account, it was the same thing. I was guessing that it was maybe linked with the electronic Quezon City ID because when I registered my email, it is not yet registered primarily because I still do not have my QC ID. Why? I always get a lot of remarks that did not pass with the evaluator. Before it was the signature then the next was the picture and then it was back to the signature again. This has been the third time that my QC ID has been rejected that I do not wish to continue with it anymore since there was also another site where you need to register your mobile number for another QR code that they said will be used in most establishments. This is the part where I am going to say that we really do "sack" (you already know why I changed the spelling) in a lot of things.
Aftet the EZ consult, if your vitals are not normal, you will have to take a rest for a few minutes and you need to take your vital signs again. But if your vitals are normal, next step was counselling. It is where they will inform you stuffs about the vaccine.
Next after counselling was screening. I do not know why it had to be 2 parts of screening. The first screening was like they are to encode your file then the second part of the screening was they would just ask you in what arm would you want to be injected. The time could have been reduced if it had been aaked during the first screening or better yet no more screening. They could have asked it when they were taking the vital signs don't you think? It was also in the second screening that they will give you your vaccination card and on when you would go back for the second dose.
Then after those 2 screenings was the vaccine part. We are not done yet because after that was a post vaccine observation where they would check your vitals again. Hooray! Vaccine observation done but we are still not done yet as the last step was a talk with the doctor which I do not think that they are doctors. Well anyway, they are just there to ask if you have any concerns or questions and they will just remind you of your next vaccination.
My dad was so pissed with a lot of the procedures that they had to go through that day which he thinks is not necessary. Just like with the screening part. Like I have said it was something like an encoding part and then the second was the vaccination card. Was that already screening? I just told my dad that maybe they wanted to have that long process so that there will be a lot of personnel to get paid.
