Incompetence knows no bounds!

With Ford Nation's release of the provincial vaccine program's booking portal on March 15th, the government Tsunami of incompetence has gained momentum, spreading pangs of stress and frustration further than expected ... or, maybe it was expected ... hmmmm? 

Like so many Canadians, and especially Ontarians (if that's even a word), the nightly news reports of Covid-19 infection spread and vaccination progress have become increasingly mundane, resulting in a dangerous ambivalence for many. In my home, we try to watch the local CTV Barrie based show with hopes of a more localized expose of the progression of this pandemic. While CTV Barrie does their best, for me it becomes a nightly standardized format, numbing me into a shoulder-shrugging "What are you going to do?" response. As the Canadian government approved the string of available vaccines, I was hopeful that the powers in charge would be able to prove my fears unfounded, and get needles on the arms of many, especially the most vulnerable.

I may be "preaching at the choir" here, but I can't be the only one that had reservations about Ford's competency to handle such a humungous task, fuelled by the string of bone-headed decisions over the past few months. When the "800 pound gorilla" announced that the province would hand off the organization of the actual vaccine clinics to the local health units, my wife and I met eyebrow-raised looks of exasperation. We have grown to have as much trust in Ford et al as you might have in a used car salesman like Boss Hog of Dukes of Hazard fame. Granted, we have little actual knowledge of how to execute the task, nor a quality understanding of how OHIP works, but the idea of vaccines themselves being federally procured, provincially controlled, and municipally administered seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Adding to our sense of frustration, Ford announced that booking appointments for vaccinations would be under his control with a provincial web site. "What could possibly go wrong there?" said I, with all due dripping sarcasm.

True to form, the rollout of the web site was a clusterf_ _k, just like we expected.

Our mothers are both in the high risk demographic, with my mother north 80 and Joyce's mother north of 90. When my mother attempted to access the booking site on the morning of the 15th, she encountered a hopelessly long process, as one would unfortunately anticipate. After multiple frustration-filled failed attempts, she opted for the telephone service, and as you likely surmised, was gifted an exhaustingly long wait on hold. She reached out to me with her frustrations because the error message she was receiving from the site was "the page has been tampered with" and she wished my input on whether that was a problem with software on her end. We decided that I would give it a shot as well, since I had the time and the proverbial "two heads are better than one" mentality, but I got the same bizarre response. Low and behold, after a couple of attempts, I was able to access the bookings, and my initial glee quickly faded into confusion when my screen revealed that the closest clinic was in Orillia. Why in the world would senior citizens be asked to travel over 30 minutes away? That makes no sense! Calling my mom to explain, we agreed that waiting to see if things improved was the correct choice, even if it meant that there would be the inevitable delay in actually getting stuck in the arm.

Later that evening, mom called to say that she had discovered a news story on-line that the government upheld everyone's opinion of their incompetence when it was revealed that their web site was missing clinic information for many municipalities. Seriously? Was there no limit to their incompetence?

If you think that's the end, you're not even in the same area code.

I got another call from my mom later that night. She had been able to get through all of the hoops and booked an appointment for Friday the 19th. Yowsa! Great news! And a big sigh of relief passed my lips.

Wait! The game's not over!

The booking process takes information like email and telephone contacts, and not receiving any indication of confirmation for over 24 hours prompted my mom's increasing sense of dread that something was amiss. Finally reaching a human voice, her suspicion was confirmed that all of her work was for naught and the appointment was hanging in the cyber-winds. There is a happy ending to all of this, though, and she was able to re-book for a few days later in March with confirmation of not only shot ONE but also shot TWO! While we were both feeling a sense of relief, we agreed that until the actual puncture of the needle, we wouldn't hold our breath. Stay tuned for details on that! I will note that she was not overly impressed with the 16 week delay between the shots, but we agreed that it was something beyond our control.

The whole sundae of angst was topped by a bright red cherry of bewilderment! 

After the affair with mom, I chose to check whether I could book something for my 90+ MIL. As you likely guessed, it was a NO-GO, revealing that the closest clinic to her was over 80 km away. Great news, he says with a sarcastic nod! A phone call to her mom revealed to Joyce that not only was her mother's local health unit info missing, but it was so on purpose, a decision made that since there was single digit spread in her community, the seniors there would be put on the back burner. Look, I can appreciate that the efforts to get people vaccinated are tempered by thoughts of working through the most vulnerable, but since she lives in cottage country where the people of "hot spots" have already chosen to travel, it would appear prudent to me that ALL Ontarians (there's that word again) who are above 80 should get their shot, regardless of postal code. Perhaps the "squeaky wheel" theory will come into play if enough folks in Cottage Country complain?

The media is overflowing with ads about the potential dangerous effects to our mental health the pandemic could harbour. How is any of this helping, in that regard? From my personal perspective ... this is called Coach Ps Perspective, after all ... the regularly revealed incompetence is exacerbating the effects of the pandemic at a faster rate than the actual conditions. 

Like Forest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."