In the last months, the government thru the media is clearly putting pressure on us all get vaccinated. The media is talking about more and more people who have already received their first dose of vaccine, European countries are reopening and getting back to “normal” life. In a popular TV station in Poland we can hear that “vaccines are waiting for people, and not people waiting for vaccines”. But, isn’t it just propaganda aimed at calming the lower class to make those people want to go to work, make them think about holidays and vacation trips and keep the economy going?
I will describe my experience with the process of booking and waiting for the first dose of MODERNA vaccine in a nutshell. To bring it closer to you and help you clear the view on the whole situation, how it looks for real.
My story starts in the late night of May 4th 2021 when the government opened registration for vaccines for the age group 18-39. It was EARLIER REGISTRATION (few days) for people who filled out an online form at the beginning of this year, saying that they want to get vaccine.
A few minutes after midnight after dialing 989 you could hear auto bot. Next attempt at 7am a real person picked up the phone. A nice consultant after verification found a date for my first dose of vaccine May 14th 8:50am. After the call I received a message with all the info.
A day before planned date i.e. May 13th, at 8:51am I got another message confirming my vaccination appointment. Next, at 11:42am got sms with info about postponing my appointment to 9:40am. All this just to send me sms again at 6:48pm, so only 15hrs before my appointment, saying they’re changing my appointment date once again to May 17th at 9:40am.
Literally 10min after the last message from e-Zdrowie [e-Health] I contacted my primary care doctor due to my allergy. The doctor told me to hold off my first dose of vaccine for a while.
After the doc call I dialed 989 – vaccine call center to try and change my appointment. Luckily a kind consultant answered my call and she found me a new date. Same place, same vaccine, new appointment 2 weeks away i.e. May 28th at 12:40am.
I continued my treatment and two days before my first dose of MODERNA I contacted my doctor again, he gave me the green light this time. Literally after 1h from this call I received a message saying my first dose vaccine appointment got postponed once again. This time till May 31st 3:50pm.
I decided to call the helpline right away to get some information about my vaccination point, and the possibility of finding any other place with an earlier appointment if “vaccines are waiting for people”.
This time I had no luck with the consultant and a very rude and negative sounding man picked up the phone. I told him my story in a nutshell and asked for help. The consultant clearly didn’t even listen to me saying “but what, where, how?”. I gave him my PESEL Number [ID Number] and info about the place and the date of my appointment that I just recieved. The consultant said only “The product is currently unavailable. How can I help you?”. It sounded more like talking to a bot rather than chatting with a human being. Not mentioning waiting for help.
So, I asked about a different vaccine Pfizer maybe? Then he gave me an appointment date even more away in time than the one I just got on my phone. Again I heard him say “How can I help you?”. I asked if there is any MODERNA vaccine in any of the nearby cities, since that’s the one that I was offered the first time.
After all, they’ve been saying “vaccines are waiting for people”. For this question I only heard one answer “You’ve reached vaccine call center. Can I help you with something else?”, as if he’d helped me with anything so far… Being on the edge I just responded “No, you did not help me, goodbye.”. And I hung up.
The conversation with the consultant didn’t change anything. The consultant was very unfriendly from the very beginning of the call and didn’t want to help or answer detailed questions at all. I am deeply disappointed because I know that some of the consultants working there are nice and willing to help.
I am very upset, the whole situation is very striking because it looks as if the government is playing a “vaccine propaganda”. “People don’t want to get vaccinated” we hear, “vaccines are waiting”… I am asking, where are they waiting? How many citizens don’t want to get vaccinated?
I fully understand people who don’t want to get vaccines, too. Just think about the story I just gave you. Isn’t it ironic?
Written by Sylwia S.
