Volunteer vaccinator here, mostly working at a large mass vaccination centre (800-1100 people per day). A big issue there is people turning up outside their alloted appointment time. Sometimes an hour or two before, this causes queues to quickly build. More recently they’ve been taking a much stricter line with this and turning people away if they turn up more than 15 mins outside their appointment time.
It’s a huge logistical effort to process that many people, but it mostly does work very well. It’s a slick operation and at our centre has been subject to “time and motion” style assessments. However, people faint, require translators to be consented, have complicated medical histories which need to be checked, insist on male/female vaccinators for cultural reasons, come dressed in 5 layers and take 10 minutes to bare their arm etc. All this chuck spanners in the works and can slow things right down.
As a vaccinator I typically see each person for a minute or less before I wipe their chair down, sanitise my hands as the next person is walking up. We get bollockings from the nurse in charge if we chat too much to the ‘customers’ as it slows things down, it really is a production line!
