My covid-19 vaccine experience was horrendous. It wasn’t the shot itself that caused me distress, but the events that led up to my vaccination.
As a health care student, I was sent numerous resources for how to sign up to receive a vaccination. It felt too good to be true that all I needed to do was provide my name and email and select two dates for my vaccination. As scheduled, I showed up at the site to receive my vaccination and got as far as having the nurse ask me which arm to use for the shot. I was seconds away from being vaccinated when a supervisor stopped the nurse and informed her that I couldn’t receive the vaccine at this location due to not being affiliated with the company. Before I could even process what was going on, I turned and watched my covid-19 vaccination card being torn up in front of my face and then was asked to leave the facility.
It is disgraceful that there have not been more health policies put into place to help with the administration of the covid-19 vaccination. I hope we can learn from the poor distribution of the first round of covid-19 vaccines and come up with the necessary improvements for when Phase 1B individuals can receive their dosages.
Laura Fahs
South Side
The writer is a doctor of occupational therapy student at the University of Pittsburgh.