(no subject)

[ann_leckie]

Wow. A wasted trip to the county health service. A month ago, I took the Paidhi Kids for flu shots. It was an insane day, four hours of sitting in a packed-to-the-fire-limit waiting room with a three year old and a seven year old. At the end of it, the kids got shots, and I was told that I could and should bring them back in a month for the second dose.

So today I bundled the kids up and packed them in the car and took them down to the clinic. It's walk-in only (which is why the first one was so packed), but I'm figuring there's no urgent panic to get the second shot, like there was for the first one. Turns out, I was right. No panic--and no vaccine.

Apparently, they took all the reserved second doses away and gave them out in a "blitz day" immunization session. Maybe, the nice and apologetic lady said, they would have another blitz day soon and I could get my kids' booster at that event. But, I ask, won't those doses be reserved for the kids who got their first shots at the first blitz day? Nope, there wasn't enough to reserve second doses.

Now, I'm not worried about my kids at this point. Paidhi Boy already had the flu, it was hard on him, but not emergency room stuff, but it's been through the house already. Nobody else got sick, and I figure if we were going to, we would have by now. But I'm wondering, how much good is it going to do, spreading around half a dose of vaccine? I appreciate that they wanted to get as many kids taken care of as possible, but what if some kiddo with a real health problem, that put them at risk, had their first dose at the county clinic and now can't get his or her second dose? And would it have killed someone at an office somewhere in the system to pull up the database and do a mail merge for the folks who now won't be able to get their second dose, instead of waiting for them to walk in one by one? Sheesh.

Did I mention that it's extremely cold here today? It is. My coat (which I think has a nylon shell, or something similar) started making cracking noises when I moved minutes after I went out and started buckling kids into the car. I'm not looking forward to standing on the playground this afternoon when school lets out.

Comments

Hello Bren, aka Hautdesert!

[r0sew00d.livejournal.com]

You have a cool-looking journal and I'm glad your novels are coming along! You've talked about how cold it is outside in your entries, and I can't say I miss it, especially since a 40-degree night feels pretty stinkin' cold to me anymore. I've got a bare-bones LJ with no flashy stuff yet, and three whole entries. Check it out if ya like! :)