Department of Health or Tardiness?

Department of Health?? So, whilst the Covid numbers are on the rise, some vaccinated people still CANNOT get their booster shots? How ridiculous is this???? And WHO is to blame? Well, the DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH and their defunct EVDS system of course. The minute I hear that Johnson & Johnson’s booster shots are now available I rush off to the Parkhurst Vaccination Centre to get my booster shot with my 88-year-old dad in tow. He has had his two Pfizer shots. I had my J&J vaccination in June and I am apparently able to get my booster after 2 months. Well, NO SUCH LUCK. I get into the vaccination site and then, EVEN THOUGH I HAVE ALL MY PAPER WORK and even though I am ON THE SYSTEM, the nurse cannot give me my booster, because the system declares that I am NOT ELIGIBLE. The friendly nurse phones the Health Department and some official at the department basically tells her that I must go to Discovery in Sandton where I received my first vaccination. So… off we go. We get there and just get the same message “NOT ELIGIBLE” on their EVDS system. My father, on the other hand, cannot get his booster shot either. His 2nd vaccination was in July. So, he has to wait, because even though we are only a few days away from January, he is still “NOT ELIGIBLE” either. And, he must obtain a doctor’s letter BEFORE he can get his booster shot. No wonder that poor people do not even bother. They cannot afford the costs incurred as can we. Are we still surprised that the DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH still has not met their goals in terms of vaccination numbers?? There seems to be a huge problem with the input of data on their systems! Who is in charge of what goes on at the Department of Health? I will pay for our boosters, but that option is NOT AVAILABLE either. I cannot even get it done via my medical aid because of the stronghold that the Department of Health seems to have on the entire system. How incredibly dysfunctional are these people??? They obviously cannot get the information on their system even MONTHS after the vaccinations happened. Has anyone tried to get their VACCINATION CERTIFICATES??? Well, that is not that easy either. You go on the system, place all the information on the system, but the system does not recognize you either. Now you have to phone Business South Africa, get certified copies of your vaccination cards, etc. scan or email it to them and then you might get your certificate. Who knows? What the heck is going on in this country? Vaccination is advertised quite regularly, but you cannot get it done when it suits you as the system declares you not eligible. Most teachers received their J&J vaccinations, but cannot even get this done during their holidays. I suppose we will just have to get schools closed AGAIN so that teachers can get this done because the education of our youth seems to not really matter. And then, the elderly, who now must see doctors for letters to get their boosters. SHAME ON YOU, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. Or should you be called “DEPARTMENT OF TARDINESS and ILL HEALTH”? Please advise the country about what is going on so that we do not continuously waste our time at these vaccination sites. An aside, when I checked my vaccination card, after the fact, my cellphone number was written down instead of my Vaccination number and my dad’s ID number was not entered correctly either. WHO TRAINED THESE PEOPLE? The department of health or the Department of misinformation and uselessness?