Confusedly chasing the jab
Ryder Gabathuse | Monday August 23, 2021 06:00
The day started off very early and our search for the vaccine quickly crumbled before us as many sites turned out not to be ready to dish out the vaccines to ordinary Batswana except teachers, military and other frontliners. This is despite that we were following on a distributed schedule coming from the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
It was indeed a tough day for us. At some sites they insisted that they were vaccinating those who were taking the second jab. It was confusing to start with as we went there hoping to get the jab.
The MOHW public relations team tried hard to clarify the matter but confused us even more. My day actually started off very early after colleague, Maureen Odubeng was tipped off that Extension 2 Clinic just a stones’ throw from our workplace and Block 8 clinics were sites for the vaccine and only for us to hit brick walls on visiting the sites.
We hunted around for the vaccine as publicised by the MOHW publicity team, but nope it was never to be found. Colleague Odubeng had gotten it wrong. No vaccines!
At Maruapula location, another colleague Kagiso Sekokonyane was among the top 60 early birds at one of the vaccine sites, a hall in the locality. Despite that he had queued up from as early as 6am for his convenience, by 10am he only learnt that he would not get the jab. Too bad! As the day progressed, there was more communication on the vaccines from the MOHW, which left people even more confused. But it didn't discourage me as finally around after 3pm, another colleague, Stryker Motlaloso picked wind that it was happening at Water Affairs station in Gaborone South constituency. This is after we had hit a blank at Tlokweng, Phase Four and other sites around town.
We left the office in our quest to strike a balance between work and getting the jab. It was the beginning of another long wait for the jab, which would later be rewarded.
It took us four good hours of a slow moving line for the jab. At least, there was a tunnel at the end of the light as colleague and creative Mmegi Sports editor, Mqondisi Dube would say.
We waited. Small talk about the efficacy of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was the order of the day as uninformed people ahead of us did their small debate without the basis of science. And it provided the requisite pastime.
The debate took many twists and turns as people took turns describing how other people usually felt after the jab and so on and so forth.
Sitting on a dusty long wall, we shifted inch by inch to the registration point. To our surprise, our helpers appeared very patient and willing to assist us, unlike their colleagues at the MOHW public relations with their confusing and ambiguous press statements, which did not match the services provided on the ground. They kept on notifying us step-by-step on their progress and on the other hand assuring us that at the end of it all, we were all going to get our jabs. Just to demonstrate the tolerance of the DHMT team, there was a man in front of me and colleague, Stryker, who was tormentedly panic stricken by the reality of his young age. He was younger than the required age of 45 and above eligible for the jab on the day.
Thinking about the prospects of him losing an a opportunity to be vaccinated he came up with a plan that he was a teacher desperately in need of the jab before schools re-open.
He however, whispered to us that he was an accountant who desperately wanted his jab more so that the site was offering Johnson and Johnson, which is a single dose. He burdened us with prayer for his successful jab taking.
One of the ladies in charge of the vaccinattion programme kept on reminding all and sundry that people below 45 years age were not eligible for the vaccine. Our man was panic-stricken and our duty was to comfort him, until he finally got his jab.
At the end of it all, it was interesting yesterday for Permanent Secretary in the MOHW, Grace Muzila to acknowledge that, “ in Gaborone, we have a problem and we can’t hide that reality.”
Muzila would further in a televised interview state that her ministry and the Greater Gaborone District Health Management Team are working together with a view to correcting the anomalies.
She further conceded, “ We have realised that fatigue has crept in and we will have to up our game.”