My spouse and I had our second vaccination yesterday, and I'd like to share a bit of the experience with you. I apologize ahead of time for its length.
First, some background: Even before Israel was first founded, the socialist-oriented immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia established a union, which in turn built factories for its members to work in, construction companies, etc. which I find to be hilarious. Among the perks for the union members was a "sick fund"; medical services were provided in clinics by the sick fund, with no out-of-pocket costs, except for tiny co-payments for medications. Over the years, the clinics and services got more sophisticated, and the sick fund built entire hospitals, as did the government and non-profits like Hadassah, St. Vincent DePaul, Augusta Victoria, etc. Other sick funds were established; they're really like pre-paid HMOs/group practices (similar to H.I.P. in NY, Kaiser Permanente in CA).
Fast forward several decades. Medical costs were spiraling, the union and the other sick funds were running deficits. The government re-organized the entire health system, removed the link between the union and its sick fund, and made all payments to one's sick fund part of the compulsory deductible for National Insurance (Israel's social security). Employers pay two-thirds of cost, employees pay one-third of the cost; the self-employed like my spouse and I pay 100%. One can choose one's sick fund, and transfer between them, but everyone is required to join one, and the sick funds are prohibited from denying membership to any Israeli. All four of the sick funds are required by the government to provide a basic "basket of services", which is fairly comprehensive. The former union sick fund, Clalit, or General Sick Fund, has by far the largest number of patients, and provides services in offices, clinics, specialty clinics and hospitals literally throughout the country, in small places like kibbutzes and villages as well as in towns and cities.
Everything is computerized, and most of one's records, while carefully kept private, are accessible to other health providers with the patient's signed permission. Every member has a magnetic card, and swipes it upon arrival at the medical center/clinic/pharmacy. The computer knows if you have an appt., and gives you a number. If not, it gives you the choice of the receptionists or nurses, neither of which require appointments, of course.
Obviously, when Israel embarked on its vaccination campaign last month, the government set up the delivery systems and the protocols through the sick funds. A government Corona advisory committee recommended the guidelines, and the government adopted them. The procedures were disseminated on all media: TV, radio, digital…. The first tranche of people included all medical personnel and those potentially in touch with Covid-19 patients, e.g. hospital orderlies; people over 60; those suffering from chronic illnesses and health conditions; nursing home residents and staffs, and teachers. Notably, all spouses, care-givers and any other adults living in the households of those eligible were also eligible. My spouse and I received IMs from our General Sick Fund, as did everyone eligible, telling us to call or register on-line for the first vaccination, with the number and links. My spouse undertook to make the appointments. Having heard from friends about the long wait time on their call systems, some of which crashed, as did the sites, she waited until the second day to register. We were going out of town for my spouse's hydrotherapy that Thursday, so she tried to get an appointment in that town first, but nothing was available there for weeks. The earliest vaccinations in any other nearby city or town was a week or two later. What was available that Thursday, December 24th, was in the Arab city of Nazareth. Yes, that Nazareth; 31% of the residents are Christian, and the rest Muslim.
We always leave extra time to get somewhere we've never been, especially with unforeseen traffic problems. Because of Corona, inter-city traffic was light, until we got to the city itself. Traffic there, as expected, was heavy, but it gave us a chance to enjoy the Christmas decorations. Nevertheless, we ended up getting there more than an hour early. Having come in from the parking lot, we followed the new signs in Hebrew that had been added to the Arabic ones, found the lobby, a computer station for patient use, and one of us swiped our card – but everything on the screen came up in Arabic! Unfortunately, although we're translators, Arabic is not one of the languages we know. A gentleman immediately approached. I use that word because it fits him: impeccably dressed in a suit and tie, unusual in Israel, his demeanor was that of a gentleman. He asked us in perfect, unaccented Hebrew, if we had an appointment. When we answered affirmatively, he touched the correct on-screen box, but was puzzled by the result. We swiped the other card, he touched the screen, same result. Turned out that the station in the lobby was only programmed to issue numbers for appointments in the next hour. So he directed us to the receptionists' desk a few feet away, wishing us good health. A young man smilingly took our cards, gave us our numbers, and also in perfect Hebrew, directed us to the room where the vaccinations were being given, wishing us good health. If we were in doubt about his directions, signs in Hebrew and Arabic directed us down four steps, and to a corridor lined with chairs that doubled as a waiting room. A stern looking but friendly and extremely helpful security guard helped people find seats, and called out the numbers from inside the room.
We were there barely 10 minutes – still an hour before our scheduled appointment – and we were called in. If two people were together, as we were, they were called in together. Curtains screened off several cubicles, and we were directed to one of them. The Muslim nurse, whose name we unfortunately never got, took our cards, swiped her computer, asked all the questions necessary, e.g. did we have coughs, temperatures, allergies with anaphylactic reactions, had we had Covid, been in quarantine because of exposure to anyone who tested positive, gotten tested ourselves…. My spouse had been tested in the summer, when she had the regular flu. We managed to get a little humor into the exchange. Then she explained the procedure, asked which arm we wanted it in, jabbed us, and printed out the certification that we'd gotten the first vaccination. She instructed us to wait in the corridor for 15 minutes, then go up and make an appointment for three weeks later.
After waiting, we returned to the same nice young man. There were no appointments available exactly three weeks from then, i.e. on Thursday. He said we could come in anyway, and wait and 'squeeze in', but after all the hassles that my mother had had with people who tried to do that when she was a medical assistant, we wouldn't. So we made the appointment for the following day, a Friday, January 15th. By this time, it was already after six p.m. – on Christmas Eve! And although the sick fund's hours are usually until 7:00 p.m., they'd extended the hours to 8:00 p.m., because of the vaccinations. Obviously Christian, the young man was touched when we wished him a happy holiday (most Israelis aren't even aware of Christmas) and remarked that everyone there was working so hard and late on their holiday. He wistfully said, "Yes, it's our holiday tonight", and printed out the form with the appointment.
Yesterday, three weeks later, we went back for our second vaccination. In the interim, cases here have increased significantly, and the entire country has gone into lockdown – or at least, that's what has been mandated. Many people are still bending the rules and breaking the laws. In efforts to stem the spread, the police have been setting up roadblocks and checking people's reasons for traveling. The roadblocks have narrowed even highways to one-lane crawls, and have snarled urban transportation more than usual. And Friday is the day that many working families do their grocery shopping.
We left plenty of time to take the roadblocks into account. We passed one where the lane was still closed, but they were beginning to take it down, and no one checked us. Another one, in Nazareth, was only a few blocks away from the clinic, and I noticed someone in a car two cars ahead of us holding up their appointment printout. We did the same, and the policeman just nodded and waved us through.
Traffic near the clinic always seems to be crawling, and today was no exception. This time, the parking lot was jammed, and we parked in a small private lot across the street. Although the sign said 20 shekels for the first hour, and 5 for every quarter hour after that, when I paid my 20 shekels, the man who took my money said that I could park there all day for the 20. We said – and it was obvious – that we were going for the vaccinations, and would return before the hour was over, but why the discount? He said it was out of respect, that I deserved it(!) When I asked him how he knew, he said it was because of my white hair, and we all laughed.
Our appointments were for 11:30 and 11:40; we were still about 30 minutes early. This time, I was able to get my number immediately; they'd added some Hebrew to the screen, and I just touched it to get my number. For some reason, my spouse's screen was mostly in Arabic, but she managed to get hers, without anyone else helping as well.
We walked down the four steps to the corridor, and were looking around for a seat for my spouse, and they called my number! We both went in, got asked some more questions along the same lines, and particularly if we'd had any reaction to the first shot, (our only reactions were mildly sore arms, like a flu shot) and then were given the vaccination in the arm of our choice. She printed out our temporary "green passport", explaining that we'd get the permanent one from the Ministry of Health, which was automatically informed by the computer. When we walked out, our phones dinged, and while we waited the obligatory 15 minutes, we read our IMs. They were from the sick fund, congratulating us on getting the second vaccine, that they'd informed the Ministry of Health, which would send us our green passport, and in the meantime, we could download a temporary one, with the link. The message timed in at 11:16!!
The icing on the cake was at the parking lot again, which I think is really this man's backyard that he set up as a parking lot. Getting back to the car, I noticed a small sign on an olive tree near the car: Don't Forget to Help [in Hebrew].
[I can’t seem to be able to add the picture here. Sorry.]
When he saw me taking a picture of it, the man came over and explained that the district police department, where he works, had asked him to make one for each of the precincts – he'd made 36 of them. He had two extras hanging on the fence. We spoke about the terrific staff at the sick fund, and he pointed out that, unlike in Jewish communities, they work Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays! IOW, they're open seven days a week. We wished each other a good weekend and left.
Amazing experience all around. And we feel much, much more secure, although masks are still de rigueur for the next several weeks. On Thursday, the government announced that 2 million Israelis have already gotten the first round of vaccinations; with a population of 6,552,000 adults over the age of 14, that's almost a third of the adult population. The over 40s should start getting their shots next week.
