Vaccine rollout: After the long, dark year of fear there is hope again
Monday, May 18th marked Day One of the national South African vaccine roll out programme. Melanie Verwoerd’s mum was one of many who received the vaccine that day.
On Monday morning early, my mum sent a text to our family group: “Can you believe I have to be at Helderberg Hospital this afternoon for the vaccine?!”
There were various “Wows!” and “Yeahs!” from family members. “Take snacks!” my practical sister suggested.
My early morning newspaper scan revealed numerous scathing articles from commentators predicting chaos and not trusting that anyone would get a text for a vaccine on Day One of the public roll-out. I debated phoning some of them about my mum’s news, but decided to rather go and have a look myself.
I texted my mum that I would come and keep her company and then – heeding my sister’s advice – packed some milk tart and coffee in flasks. (Ok, I know my Afrikaner roots are showing, but I thought it was the perfect waiting-for-my-vaccine-on-day-one provisions.)
Helderberg Hospital is in Somerset West and was one of the 87 sites in the country open for vaccines on Day 1. My mum’s text said that she had to arrive between 12h and 14h00. Having arranged to meet her there, I made the 45-minute journey from Cape Town.
En route, I listened to a gentleman on Cape Talk radio station who had phoned in from outside Helderberg Hospital. He complained bitterly that there was no parking and a long queue of elderly people waiting outside the gate, with no indication of what was going on.
I sighed and started to dread what laid ahead. At the hospital there was indeed nowhere to park, but in typical small-town fashion, everyone just parked on the pavement trusting that traffic officers wouldn’t ticket pensioners on vaccine day.
The 70 or so elderly people standing outside the gate were complaining about a lack of information, so I slipped past a security guard and went in search of the venue. I eventually found the place and spotted someone who seemed to be running the show. Sister Anita Theron is one of those women who can organize the world. She was putting up posters, taking non-stop vaccine related calls on her cellphone and organizing nurses – all at the same time.
It turned out that due to the fact that they had other clinics that morning, they were always going to start after 13h00 with the vaccinations – something the health department either didn’t know or mis-communicated with their “between 12h and 14h00” texts.
When Sr. Theron realized this, she sent a nurse out to the gate to explain the delay and allow the first group of people in. They were directed to two rows of socially distanced chairs outside the venue. By now people’s moods had improved significantly and there were lots of banter and introductions to one another.
Not to be outdone by the selfie-generation, many lined up in front of the “COVID-vaccinations here” sign to have their photos taken.
A little while later Sharon Leo, the CEO of the hospital, arrived and joyfully greeted everyone. “Everybody doing okay?” she asked. A choir of elderly voices assured her that they were just fine. “So happy to be here”, shouted one. Sharon was followed by a nurse handing out little snack parcels. This got grateful applause.
Around 13h00 forms were handed out and a nurse came to screen everyone for COVID symptoms or any other problems.
The “any body aches?” question was quickly replaced by “Any body aches other than the usual?” after the long list of age-related body aches mentioned by respondents was taking too long.
Then people were moved inside to a waiting area while cleaners sanitized the chairs outside – ready for the next group.
In the waiting area the excitement was palpable. Nurses popped in – just to see how it was going. Sharon was still there – assisting many who struggled to walk. (How many CEOs in the world would do that?) Then the big moment came. Like an athlete nearing the finishing line, a nurse was cheered on as she arrived with two cooler boxes filled with vaccines.
Mr. September from Jamestown in Stellenbosch was invited in and beamed as he was the first to get his vaccine. After the initial cautious filling in of the data on the computer, things started to move fast and the area for the 15 minutes post-vaccine wait filled up with people happily texting their children and grandchildren vaccine pictures.
When my mum and I left around 2 pm there was still a long queue, but things were moving smoothly. Sharon was still busy walking people in, Sr. Anita was explaining to the new arrivals at the gate what was happening and that it might take a little time ,and various nurses were handing out forms and asking about unusual body aches.
It felt good. We mess a lot up in this country, but thanks to the many special people like Anita Theron and Sharon Leo, we can also pull together and get things done.
Three weeks from now, my mum will get her second shot. With that, she will be almost 100% protected against COVID. What an amazing gift.
As I drove back to Cape Town, I felt really happy and hopeful. Finally, after this long dark year of fear and uncertainty, there was suddenly a bright ray of hope.