Since my parents came to Canada in February, it was a great relief to be part of a family during a very special time, but at the same time I was worried about their health, fearing that they might get infected and regret it for the rest of their lives.
Last week, Canada opened up universal registration for the vaccine. The circle of friends and various WeChat groups have been relaying that anyone can register, and as long as they open their age registration, they will automatically be notified. But Mom and Dad are on tourist visas, not Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and in my sense, vaccines are now the most precious time, and Canada would have been in massive shortage, and the nationals could not meet them, so it should not be the turn of the parents on tourist visas.
Last Wednesday, I inadvertently opened the website for BC vaccine appointments and found that it clearly states that appointments can be made even without a health number or even legal status, meaning that anyone can as long as they are in Canada. To protect my privacy, no personal information such as work card number, driver’s license number, credit card number, etc. would be required. I was so excited that I would be able to make an appointment for my elderly family, and I felt relieved.
For those who have a B.C. Health Card number (free health insurance), you can make an appointment directly through the Internet in 5 minutes. For those who don’t have a health card, you can only make an appointment by phone. The phone appointment was very busy, and I guess many seniors who can’t operate the internet probably have to make an appointment by phone. After waiting for 20 minutes, the phone call finally came through.
The process of making an appointment over the phone was very simple. All you had to do was tell the operator the name and date of birth of the registrant, and there was no need to provide any identification number. After learning that my father was 70 years old, the operator told me that I could make an appointment for my injection right away; while my mother was not yet 70, it might take a few more days. I was able to make an appointment for my dad at noon on Saturday, three days later, and the vaccination site was in Surrey, where I live.
It was a breezy Saturday and I took my dad to the vaccination site in downtown Surrey, which used to be a sporting goods outlet, and the huge single building was now converted into an injection site that could accommodate hundreds of people.
There was a line of about a dozen people outside the building. 100% of the people who came for the injection today were over 70 years old, but many of them were accompanied by their children, and the government allowed a family member to accompany them.
A large sign was erected in the area near the entrance, stating that today’s vaccine was Pfizer and that the second injection was due in August.
It was only about a three-minute wait to get inside, and the huge hall was filled with a couple hundred people, but it was quiet. The staff member who entered the room was a beautiful woman of Indian descent. She quickly found out the father’s information according to his name and cell phone number, and then gave us a form and patiently explained what to fill out. We were given a form and patiently explained what we had to fill out. It was mainly about name, date of birth, home address and contact information. It was nice that the form was in a hard copy binder with a pen, so I could stand in line and fill out the information while I was getting the vaccine.
There were about 20 injection windows in the lobby and everyone had to line up through a circular area. The line took no more than 3 minutes, which was just enough time for me to fill out the form. While we were waiting, the pretty girl who was registering came running all the way over and it turned out that the government had given my father a temporary health number and she had written it down on a slip of paper and sent it over to us to keep as a backup.
Soon after we reached the end of the line, a staff member asked us which number we wanted to choose from 4 to 8. Since we were given a choice, I chose number 6. He joked that number 6 meant good luck, and I said of course.
At window number 6 was a female nurse, who first took a sheet of injection instructions and gave us a detailed explanation of how we might react after the vaccination. After the vaccination, we had to wait for 15 minutes in the observation area, and the second vaccination was to be given 4 months later, and we were given a card with our names on it to show when we got the second injection.
The nurse asked me if I wanted to take a picture when I was about to be injected, and I was given time to pose for this memorable photo.
It didn’t take more than 3 minutes for my dad to sit down and the shot was done. If the nurse hadn’t said all done, we wouldn’t have realized that we were done with the vaccination. It took a total of 10 minutes from the time we started lining up outside to the time we finally finished the vaccination.
After the injection, we came to the observation area and each person was given a small sticker. The seats were all 2 meters apart, like students sitting in a gym taking a test. During these 15 minutes, I kept asking my dad if he had any adverse reactions, but he couldn’t feel anything except his arm was slightly sore from the injection.
As I watched the people coming and going, there seemed to be more staff than people getting the vaccine. There were a lot of medical staff for the injections, those who specialized in registering information, those who guided the line to maintain order, those who cleaned and disinfected, and police officers who were also on standby, seemingly in case of patients with adverse reactions. There were all kinds of staff and injectors of all colors, races, and nationalities, and this United Nations-like scene is a scenery of Metro Vancouver.
The 15 minutes passed quickly and we returned to the car with a relaxed atmosphere. On the way, we all felt that it was so easy to get vaccinated. Not only did they treat everyone equally, whether they were foreigners or not, whether they had status or not, but every staff member was so patient, polite and warm throughout the process. It’s been almost 5 years since I immigrated to Canada, but I still can’t help but feel sad whenever I encounter this kind of “preferential treatment”.
My dad told me about another experience he had when he came to Canada, which I had written about, when he lost his wallet and got it back. Just a few days after that incident, Dad lost his money again at Walmart, dropping over $100 in cash at the checkout line. He didn’t have a credit card and always felt comfortable carrying more cash when he went out. But cash is the easiest thing to lose, and he didn’t even notice that he had lost it.
The cashier who had just checked out the checkout came running out after Dad walked out of Walmart and got on his bike. The cashier found the money and ran out to look for it, but finally found it before Dad left and gave it to him.
When I got home, I got a text message informing my mom about the vaccination and the start of the vaccination for people over 60 years old. Now, the epidemic in Canada has hit a new high. But like the bright sunshine outside the window, spring has arrived and I believe everything will be fine.
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