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Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 (nCoV-2019)

What a cluster-f the MTCC vax clinic has become.

We took my daughter to get her 2nd dose (with informed consent to get it 18 days early) last night. When she got her first shot there on November 26th, it was efficient and quick. The lineup was maybe 5-6 people ahead of us. It was all on the first floor and we were in and out of there in less than 25 minutes (including a 15 minute reaction wait).

Pfizer's schedule is still only 30 days in the 5-11 age group, but here we've pushed it to 60 days to avoid Peri- and Myocarditis in kids (which, is still remarkably rare and almost entirely affects just boys). Early with Informed consent means in order to get an appointment, it needs to be made through a phonecall to the government. Which means, if you live in central toronto, the only place they'll make appointments for you is the MTCC.

Last night the MTCC was a mess.

First off, all vaccinations have been moved downstairs. We got there at 6:50 for a 7:10 appointment. There are two lines set up outside. One for appointments in the first half of the hour, and one for the second half of the hour. Both were empty. There were four staff outside just talking, and we were told to go in even being 20 minutes early. 1st step checkin was quick and relatively line-free. Good; so far it looked like a repeat of November 26th.

We get downstairs to a huge, winding lineup, at least half of which was obscured from view, hiding how long a wait there truly was.

We were put in a line with probably 500-600 other people, in a room with seemingly no airflow. Despite the room and ability to keep bends in the line distanced, they weren't and they were often side by side. At least two people near to us were regularly removing their masks to eat or drink.

I get the staff absences (Omicron), so I'm not going to blame them for only having 5 of 14 2nd stage check-ins and 20 or so of the 50+ injection stations manned. But it seems like no care was made to adapt for that level of bottlenecking.

Worse yet, they seemed to be pulling Moderna shots out of the line earlier, so those who weren't all Karen about it in the 30+ age group were spared about 10 minutes extra waiting (not sure how injecting Moderna is in any way different than injecting Pfizer).

We spent an hour and a half there. We had more exposure to strangers in that time than what is probably the entirety of the past six months (pre-Omicron!). Thankfully, we're boosted and we were double-masked with (legit) KN95s with a cloth mask overtop, but our assumption is that we were exposed to Covid, waiting to get our daughter a second dose. How f-ed up is that?! How many people are now going to get Covid for "doing the right thing"?

They could've easily kept the majority of the line outside (plenty of room on the sidewalk), or wound the line through conference rooms (rather than having queuers repeatedly passing others). At times, all 5 of the 2nd-stage check-in station attendants were doing absolutely nothing staring at their phones while the line stopped. We didn't see the 5th station attendant intake a single person in the 25 minutes we could see him.

Who the hell is running this show now? Certainly not people with any sense of good epidemiology practice. It was worse than FanExpo lineups (in the same damn location, even). We walked 4km each way to avoid subway-levels of exposure, only to hit the motherlode of irresponsibility.
 
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I felt similarly when I took my kid to get first dose there in December. It should be that if you have an appointment, there should basically be no indoor waiting. Show up, check in, get injected, wait 15 minutes, leave. Whole process 20 minutes. That's what it was like for my first two doses at St. Joe's, pretty much perfect there.

My booster appointment at the Toronto Western clinic on Dec 20 was a bit of a zoo too. Large lineup outside, but also too much waiting inside with many other people. They should have kept a much smaller group of people inside. They also *still* haven't sent my vaccination record to the province yet (I called province...they referred me to clinic...left message...they called back and said it would get sorted in a few days....but that was like a week ago). Sigh.
 
Richard White said:
Most of it was Ford. I actually like how Tory and DeVilla are handling this whole situation. They are more or less at the mercy of the province.
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The MTCC is TPH-run though. All the government is doing there is supplying the doses and booking the appointments. The actual set up, queueing system, etc. is all the City.
 
vic said:
I felt similarly when I took my kid to get first dose there in December. It should be that if you have an appointment, there should basically be no indoor waiting. Show up, check in, get injected, wait 15 minutes, leave. Whole process 20 minutes. That's what it was like for my first two doses at St. Joe's, pretty much perfect there.
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Likely because it was at an actual hospital, where Doctors were overseeing the whole thing. Many are helping do the actual vaccinations as well. Cities are being forced to call in LPNs for vaccinations, who have very little medical knowledge comparatively.

vic said:
My booster appointment at the Toronto Western clinic on Dec 20 was a bit of a zoo too. Large lineup outside, but also too much waiting inside with many other people. They should have kept a much smaller group of people inside.
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My first was at a pharmacy; 5 minute wait outside. My second, at a mass clinic in Peel; roughly 10 minute wait, over half of that outside. My booster, 5 minute wait, mostly outside. All three in a single, straight line.

My daughter's second; 1.5 hour wait, entirely indoors, in a winding line in an unventilated basement.

It's like we've just given up.
 
vic said:
I felt similarly when I took my kid to get first dose there in December. It should be that if you have an appointment, there should basically be no indoor waiting. Show up, check in, get injected, wait 15 minutes, leave. Whole process 20 minutes. That's what it was like for my first two doses at St. Joe's, pretty much perfect there.

My booster appointment at the Toronto Western clinic on Dec 20 was a bit of a zoo too. Large lineup outside, but also too much waiting inside with many other people. They should have kept a much smaller group of people inside. They also *still* haven't sent my vaccination record to the province yet (I called province...they referred me to clinic...left message...they called back and said it would get sorted in a few days....but that was like a week ago). Sigh.
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It seems like they have forgotten the lessons from the March - September vaccination drive.

zang said:
Likely because it was at an actual hospital, where Doctors were overseeing the whole thing. Many are helping do the actual vaccinations as well. Cities are being forced to call in LPNs for vaccinations, who have very little medical knowledge comparatively.

My first was at a pharmacy; 5 minute wait outside. My second, at a mass clinic in Peel; roughly 10 minute wait, over half of that outside. My booster, 5 minute wait, mostly outside. All three in a single, straight line.

My daughter's second; 1.5 hour wait, entirely indoors, in a winding line in an unventilated basement.

It's like we've just given up.
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I wouldn't put the blame on LPNs - they just put the shots in. This is on the organizer of the clinics.

AoD
 
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AlvinofDiaspar said:
I wouldn't put the blame on LPNs - they just put the shots in. This is on the organizer of the clinics.

AoD
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Not blaming, just stating that they don't necessarily have the training or experience that would lead to best practices. An LPN pulled up from a rehab clinic is less likely to put pressure on organizers to do it properly. Maybe I just know too many no-nonsense doctors?
 
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The company I work for is now requesting all employees to declare their vaccination status and provide proof. I feel like this will become increasingly common going forward. Not sure if it was mentioned here yet, but just yesterday the city fired 461 employees over this issue.
 
Towered said:
The company I work for is now requesting all employees to declare their vaccination status and provide proof. I feel like this will become increasingly common going forward. Not sure if it was mentioned here yet, but just yesterday the city fired 461 employees over this issue.
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It's unfortunate that government is so often the one forced to set an example for labour practices.
 
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