Vaccine Clinic
It's been almost 2 years since the world has declared a state of emergency in response to the spread of coronavirus. But a year ago, I worked in a COVID-19 vaccine clinic. At that time, small towns had set up makeshift vaccine clinics in local high school gymnasium, shopping malls, and parking lots. I had worked in one since it opened, and it'd been a pretty intense experience. The line for the clinic stretched out the door most days, and we were constantly running out of vaccines.
On our busy days, we would see over 1500 people in 8 hours. To be able to cover those numbers required staff to work like a well oiled machine. Our clinic was run out of a closed down H&M in a shopping mall. It was built like a giant "O". There were 5 stations that patrons go through from start to finish, and we would try to get the process done in 30 minutes.
The first step was registration. Clients would arrive and register for their vaccine. Then they would go into a waiting area for a vaccination station to free up. If this was their first dose, this is the time we would schedule them for their second shot. Once a station opened, the patient would sit down, their identity would be verified and they would pick an arm to receive the shot.
Vaccinators had large station setups, where they had a handful of pre-drawn doses of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines next to them. They had sharps containers filled to the brim with thousands of used needles accumulated from all of their vaccines. Most had stickers and candies set up for the kids accompanying their families through the process. After the patient would receive their shot, they were given a smiley face bandage and they were pointed to the 4th station.
This is where I came in, my role was as a paramedic observer. Myself and 3 others sat at tables in the "Observation Area". The clients would come to us, and we would ask pertinent questions to determine if the patients should stay with us 15 minutes, or if they were at a higher risk of complications and should stay 30. We would then point them to a sea in the low risk or the high risk section based on their answers, and watch. If everything went as it should, after their allotted time, the guests would then walk towards the door, where they were signed out and given a post care info pamphlet.
If anything that didn't look right, or anyone that stated they were feeling unwell, that's when we stepped in. We could take the patients to cots in what used to be changing rooms, and complete a medical assessment. Then if after a bit of rest they felt fine, they would be let back out to the exit. Or if more extensive medical care and assessments were needed, we could organize for the patient to be taken to a local hospital. This really didn't happen often.
The job was not particularly exciting, and there was a lot of sitting and waiting. A lot of patient education. A lot of answering questions. But there was a reason I was there. More than just to keep an eye out for an adverse reaction. I was there to be a part of the process to return the world to normal. To help people obtain immunity from a virus that had killed hundreds of thousands of people. That was my role, and that was my motivation.