My son had an H1N1 vaccination today. He joined the group vaccination organized by the Tokushima city office where only 1000 kids were picked from the 3000 kids who applied. He was considered to be one of the lucky ones.
Just imagine, 1000 shots given in 2 days. Meaning 500 kids per day. We were expecting havoc...with kids running away to avoid shots and some crying after being jabbed. My head was simulating what would happen based on what I always saw in Malaysian hospitals while I was working as a clinician.
Again, I underestimated the Japanese. They never seized to amaze me. The registration started at 9.30am but we decided to get there early to avoid congestion and parking problem. Surprisingly, the parking lot was quite vacant. Maybe because we arrived there 15 minutes earlier, we thought. As we entered the room, we were greeted by two Japanese ladies, asking us for the vaccination form, questionnaire and consent form which were delivered to us a few days ago. They checked to confirm whether we had enough documents with us. Then, we were directed to the registration desk and were given a thermometer to check for temperature (temperature checking was conducted in another room). After confirming that there was no fever, we were told to sit outside until we were called for internal check-up. We did not have to wait long. The doctor checked him and read through the questionnaire (among the questions asked were allergic to food/vaccines/medical illnesses). Then, we were told to stand in line for vaccination (in another room). The whole vaccination procedure took less than 20 minutes. However we were advised to stay for at least 30 minutes to observe for any reaction. So, the total procedure took us less than one hour. We were very impressed.
They had only 4 doctors there but the flow of the whole procedure was so good that there was not a moment we had to wait and wondered when we would be called next. I observed and gained something today. Perhaps another thing worth mentioning is, since it took us less than 1 hour, which was within the 'free parking range', we happily gained at least 100 yen for not having to park... (^_^)
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