Charles was so excited when he got his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I was like, ‘Finally, I can do more of the things I’ve been missing,’” said the Burnaby resident who didn’t want his last name used.
But his excitement turned to frustration when the vaccine cards took effect recently. Charles went to get his vaccine card, but for some reason the image came up as “partially vaccinated.”
“So I can’t go to a restaurant or a movie theatres because my status is incorrect,” he said. “I’ve been stuck in a web of bureaucracy for weeks and they still haven’t been able to fix it. I get that no system is perfect, but it’s really is frustrating.”
This isn’t an isolated case. A woman named Alyssa sent me copies of letters she has written to her local politicians detailing her struggles trying to get “partially vaccinated” status changed to fully vaccinated because she’s had both of her shots.
Alyssa is “tremendously emotional” about getting bounced around by a “nameless, faceless organization” that won’t contact her. For Alyssa, the problem is more difficult because it’s impacting her work as an independent contractor in the film industry.
“Due to this massive error, I have now been denied access to institutions which would otherwise have benefited from my business since they have had to turn me away based on a failed bureaucratic QR code and immunization database potentially riddled with more errors,” wrote Alyssa.
Anyone else now getting “partially vaccinated” result when showing QR code at bars/restaurant? Glitch in system, because I’ve been double for many months. @BCGovNews
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) October 31, 2021
Alyssa has had multiple conversations with government staff and, at one point, was “guaranteed” the problem would be fixed within days. But the situation still hasn’t been fixed.
And so she has written to her local MLA in Coquitlam.
“Because programs like this put the weight of enforcement on the average citizen and the weight of bureaucratic errors on the individual citizen and they the lawmakers maintain all the power with none of the consequences and can remain nameless and faceless hidden at the end of a long series of transfers over the phone and the elusive ‘call you back for more information’ if and when they feel like it,” Alyssa wrote.
Hopefully these are just a few glitches and not impacting thousands of people who have done the right thing.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
