Israelis wishing to receive their coronavirus vaccines said they were unable to do so because of over-burdened call centers, three days after the national vaccination drive began.
Many complained that if their calls did manage to get through to their Health Maintenance Organizations, they were given an appointment in February or even in March. Most complaints came from members of the largest HMO Clalit.
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A member of the Medical staff at the Barzilai Medical Center receives her coronavirus vaccine earlier in the week
(Photo: AP)
Cheli Koren, said she attempted to schedule time for her father to receive his vaccine. "I waited on the line for 42 minutes," she said, " and when I explained I was calling on behalf of my 74 year old father, I was given an appointment in March. When I asked if there was no way to get an earlier date, I was told to keep calling to see if there were more dates available. My father lives on his own and we are concerned. It is very annoying," she said.
"My 93-year-old mother lives in Ramat Gan," Anat who lives in the center of the country said. "My sister and I tried to schedule an appointment for her but the earliest date available was February 12. We saw celebrities being given the vaccine on television at the Ichilov Medical Center in nearby Tel Aviv, but my elderly mother has to wait?" she asked and added that even that late appointment was achieved after hours of waiting on the phone line over three days.
Others said they, who were over 60 did manage to schedule appointments while their parents who were obviously much older, were unable to do so.
"My husband and I, who are 67 and 74 years old got our shots yesterday but my 90- year old mother was given an appointment in February," Esti who lives in the north of the country said. "My mother was so disappointed," she added.
Esti and her husband were willing to travel to a Karmiel, half an hour away from their home to get their shots but were hoping to find an appointment closer to home for her elderly mother.
"We tried a few neighboring towns, but all appointments were a couple of months away. We will probably just pitch up at one of the locations being used to vaccinate the public and demand that she be given her shot," Esti said.
Anat Shchori from Herzliya had a similar story to tell. Her father who is registered with the Clalit HMO said all of his friends who belong to other health providers have already received their vaccines but he was given an appointment in February.
"He has been house bound for close to a year," she said.
Complaints were also made over the long wait for vaccines at the inoculation points.
One woman said she had been waiting for hours because vaccines had not been delivered.
"I don't understand. Don't they know how many people are scheduled to arrive to receive their shots?" she asked. "First it takes forever to get the appointment and then you have to wait for the vaccine to be delivered. They could have notified us that there was a delay," she said.
Clalit HMO attributed the difficulties to the positive public response to the vaccine drive and said they will overcome the increased demand and provide care to all members.
The Maccabi HMO set up a drive-through for inoculations on Wednesday at the Haifa Sammy Ofer soccer stadium where 3,000 people received their vaccines.
Ruth Kaufman head of the northern sector at Maccabi said this was a one-of-a-kind facility.
"We want to prevent people congregating and want healthy people to be able to get their shots safely inside their cars," she said.
"I think the public response has been good although there are still some places where people are hesitating whether to get vaccinated. I'm sure with time more people will agree to have the shots. We are fully booked," she said.
As of Wednesday, 140,000 people have been inoculated while medical workers and Israelis over the age of 60 were the only members of the public eligible to receive the vaccine.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein instructed hospitals to join HMO's in the vaccination effort.
Since Tuesday, the 200,000 residents of geriatric care facilities and retirement homes have also began receiving the vaccines.
One resident said he was very excited. " I want this pandemic to be gone from this world," he said. "I've lived here for the past 14 months and the first four were a blast with lots of activities, but when the pandemic broke everything stopped. I cannot wait to get rid of this mask and not have to submit to a coronavirus test every couple of days," he said.