AMMAN — Amman residents tired of waiting for a COVID-19
vaccine appointment have found a loophole - by changing the information in
their registration.
اضافة اعلان
Faisal (name has been changed), for example, changed his
work sector. “I and my family members placed ourselves as ‘healthcare’ workers
while we are not,” he told Jordan News. “We got vaccinated without being asked
any form of proof like a union card, an ID was enough.”
Users registering for a vaccine appointment in Jordan via
the online platform vaccine.jo are asked to specify the governorate in which
they live in addition to their job and any health conditions they have. The
government has said that they are prioritizing the most vulnerable groups, such
as the elderly, those with chronic diseases, and healthcare workers, a number
of whom have died from COVID-19.
Faisal, who suffers from heart disease and immune problems,
expressed distrust in the system of vaccine distribution. “The whole system was
unjust,” he said. “I saw young adults were taking the vaccine and didn’t have
any conditions just because they were nurses, while me and my mother used to go
to the hospital because of a flu.” He added that he heard about the idea from a
nurse who told him that profession was not checked at vaccination sites.
Twenty-five-year-old Sultan Jaber first heard about the
possibility of changing his registration from a friend. He said that he had
registered for the vaccine in December in Amman, where he lives, but months
later still had not been contacted with an appointment. “I needed to travel
soon so I decided to change my spot to Salt city (just 15km from Amman) a week
ago and got my turn today,” he said on Monday.
Likewise, twenty-eight-year-old Alia Faris, who lives in
Amman, also traveled to Salt to get vaccinated. She documented her journey to
get the vaccine on Instagram, where she has over 11,000 followers. “Apparently
everyone’s getting vaccinated or getting appointments earlier” after
registering in Salt, she said in a celebratory video posted to her story on the
app. “I really want to get this over with.”
She added that she got the idea from a friend who changed
her registration to Aqaba and received an appointment within three days. “I
changed it to Salt because my aunt lives there and I love visiting her.
Basically hitting two birds with one stone,” she said in a message to Jordan
News.
Jordanians were initially hesitant to sign up for the
vaccine, though registrations have increased in recent weeks. Still, only
around 10 percent of Jordanians, a little over a million individuals, have
registered for the vaccine via the online platform as of Wednesday. In an
previous interview with Jordan News, Ahmad Sarahneh, head of the health
committee at the lower house, pointed out that verifying individuals’ personal
information is challenging. He said that it was the Ministry of Health’s
responsibility to regulate administration of the vaccine.
Whereas in Amman residents are experimenting to find
vaccines, other governorates are launching campaigns to encourage reluctant
residents to register. On Monday, the Governor of Ajloun called for an
integrated plan to encourage citizens to get vaccinated. On Sunday, the
Governor of Irbid said that all Irbid residents registered on the national
vaccine platform would be vaccinated within two days, according to Petra. He
also called for the expansion of the vaccine program.
Rashed (name has been changed), who lives in Amman, said
that he changed his registration after hearing about a family friend in his 20s
who was vaccinated in As-Salt. “Since I heard this rumor a few weeks ago, I
changed my registration to try to get vaccinated in Fuheis but I didn’t get an
appointment,” said Rashed, who is in his early 20s, “probably because there’s
been a massive increase of people who signed up to get vaccinated since then.”
“It is unfortunate that vaccine providers have felt forced
to give their doses to people my age since not enough at-risk people have been
signing up to get vaccinated,” he said. “But with the recent influx of people
signing up, I’m glad the doses are being given to people who need them most.”
He added that he believed the vaccination center in Fuheis would be less
crowded than that in Amman.
Officials from the Ministry of Health and the National
Center for Security and Crisis Management were not available for comment.
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