The race to get jabs in arms continues. Or rather, the race to persuade people to get jabs in arms continues. And to do so, Nanjing is rolling out ever-more creative and innovative schemes. Among them, the vaccination bus and haircuts while you wait.
On 5 May, a voice rang out from a megaphone propped up in the south square of Nanjing Railway Station. It was attempting to drum up enthusiasm in the local populace for vaccination, something which has been far below the levels authorities would prefer.
Nearby the megaphone was parked Nanjing’s vaccination bus, waiting to take to the streets. The thinking goes that if the people won’t go to get a vaccination, perhaps the vaccine can come to them.
And so it has come to be. The bus is equipped with freezers for vaccine storage and a team of professional medical personal, eager and waiting, and armed with syringes. Vaccination is easy after registration with a Chinese ID or foreign passport.
Seems all we have to do is wait for a bus to turn up. Only question is will three all turn up at once?
But it was over by Mochou Lake where the most innovative persuader was to be found. There, the south gate of Nanhu No.1 Middle School is spacious. With residential communities all around, it’s an ideal site for a pop-up vaccination centre.
Up to 27 doctors and nurses are on duty each day, from 07:30 to 20:30. And they don’t just stick needles in arms. For local authorities have brainstormed a concept which has become known as “more vaccines, less errands”, reported Nanjing Daily.
The idea is brilliantly simple. Provide residents with convenient services which they can receive while waiting for their vaccination. Among them, umbrella repair and shoe shining.
And that’s not all. Finishing work late, a Mr. Wang, who lives in nearby Limincun residential community, found that the 30-minute vaccination observation time would have left him unable to get a haircut. It wasn’t a problem. Thanks to the new idea, Wang had a haircut on the spot and enjoyed the convenience of vaccination. Wang praised the new government service as “convenient and considerate”.
But Mr. Liu went one better. Being 58, Liu’s eyesight is not what it was. The incentive he received for getting the jab was a free pair of presbyopic glasses.
Prior to the new initiative, the local health service centre was vaccinating five to six hundred people each day. Now, more than one thousand are getting the jab daily. On one day alone during the May Day holiday, a total of 1,240 vaccinations were administered.
