The Burden of Proof

I am experiencing a new sense of optimism at the moment of which I am reluctant to let go, even though it would appear that there is much out there that is trying to rip it away from me. I am talking about the prospect of some travelling; a holiday in the sun, much deserved and for which I have patiently yearned. But, as per usual, there are hoops that need to be jumped through and it seems like the ones presented to me at the moment are not only too small for me to leap through easily but may as well be made of fire as they seem impossible to get past.

I am talking, of course, about Covid. Fully vaccinated and with bags packed, I am ready to go. Things are freeing up and I have done everything that I possibly can to ensure that I am safe, for my own health and that of others, so the chance of a change of scene seems imminent. This is what my husband and I thought when we booked up a trip to Tenerife.

You see, Spain will accept you if you are fully vaccinated with open arms and a jug of their finest sangria (if that's not drawing too much on stereotypes) and as three out of our family members are double, if not triple jabbed, the fourth being exempt because of his age, the warmth and sunshine of the Canary Islands are within our reach. Even the UK Government website said that we could go without hassle now that our arms had been perforated multiple times. No tests needed even.

Huzzah!

I mean, there might be long waits at airports to contend with and frustrations along the line but we felt it was worth giving it a go. Be bold! We told ourselves knowing that fortune indeed favours us.

But...of course, there is always a "but".

You see, there is still paperwork that needs to be provided. We may all say we're double or triple jabbed but what if we were just making that up? You must present proof of this to an official to rubber stamp before they send you on your way. I agree with this in principle as there are a lawless number of us who don't follow the rules and do shirk their responsibilities and essentially lie to get what they want and so, I understand that it is essential to show something to back up what you are saying.

And this is where the problem lies.

But before I get into that, I want to draw attention to knowledge, or rather the acquiring of it. More specifically, the acquiring of accurate knowledge. The internet has taught us that knowledge can be made easily accessible to us; a few characters typed and a click on the right button and we are delivered options for numerous sources which can provide the knowledge of which we seek. Marvellous! Modern technology is marvellous!

Except, what if the source you have chosen is not the only source of that knowledge? What if there are multiple sources which all seem to offer you a solution to your question and yet, provide different answers? Some of the elements may be similar but there are differences in what has been provided and included, what has been left out: details, I know, but crucial in these times of uncertainty where circumstances are changing on a daily basis.

No two articles read are the same; no two websites contain the same information.

What if one website says that you need to be double jabbed to visit Spain but another says that there is a 270 day limit on this from the date of the second jab? What if one website says you can just get a test to go to Tenerife but another says it is only open to those who are double vaccinated? It is confusing, n'est-ce pas?

Yep, it is and finding out exactly what is right and what is wrong is virtually impossible because which of those sources is the most reliable? Some might say government but that was conflicting from your previous experience so who can you trust?

If only there was a telephone number to call where you could speak to someone within seconds who would unequivocally give you the correct information with an email to confirm! Ah, these are the things that dreams are made of.

Here is the dilemma I face. I have been triple vaccinated. Boostered up. Covid resistant to the max. I have an NHS pass that I have updated with the vaccines I received in Canada which was a process in itself. But they are there, on my record and I am relieved for that, at least. My booster, which I received in England, however, is conspicuous by its absence. I mean, I'm double jabbed so for Spain, I should be alright. Except I'm not because I don't fit into the 270 day window, as my second jab was in June 2021 according to my electronic record. However, I have a small NHS card which clearly states that I had a third jab in December but this is not sufficient to provide proof: I need to have had these details uploaded to the NHS system in order for them to be visible on my NHS record.

Somebody else needed to do this for me. Only they haven't.

What this has meant for me is a chase to find out how I can get these added. I mean, I have "proof" in the form of the card that states my name, the date and the batch number of the vaccination I had so it should be traceable. I was with my husband when I had it done, so same time, same place, same circumstances and would you believe, it has been added to his record. So, where are the details of mine?

I knew that I had to phone 119, the NHS helpline but phoning any of these services is such an arduous process which eats into moments of your life with their monotony and the sheer frustration of it, with very little chance of reward. But I knew that I had to try and so I phoned and spoke to someone who took down my details and told me that someone would be contacting me from the VDRS (Vaccine Data Resolution Service) within 21 days.

21 DAYS! A quick turnaround indeed. I would have gone to Tenerife and come back by then or, more likely with this turn of events, stayed at home.

Actually, someone did phone me from the VDRS about half an hour later. I know! A bloody miracle but one for which I am eternally grateful. Problem almost solved! Not quite. After a very lengthy conversation, it transpires that the place where I claimed to have received my vaccination was not showing up on the system and so, there was no way of adding my vaccine to my record without this. According to her, it did not exist or not in accepted Covid vaccination centre terms at least.

I was advised to return to the place where I had received the vaccine and ask them to enter it onto the system. No problem! Unfortunately, this was a one and a half hour car journey away as we had taken advantage of a walk-in close to where we were staying with family at the time, thinking this would be the easiest course of action.

You live and learn.

After this dead end, I decided to regroup by having some lunch, a cup of recuperative tea and a chat with my mum, where I regaled her with the tale of my morning. Lots of sympathetic noises later and my mum suggested that I try and contact the NHS Trust in Walsall, the trust that covers the area where I had my booster to try and see if anyone there could help me.

I was hesitant as a morning of talking to people with a hopeful air in my voice had left me downtrodden and deflated - why was it so hard? But she was right. I needed to try every avenue open to me and so, once more seated at my computer, I trawled through pages until I found a contact form and composed my grievance as succinctly as possible in the faint hope that someone who cared would read it.

Reader, someone who cared did read it. A lovely lady called Vivien emailed me back pretty promptly, apologetic and keen to assuage me of my doubts, as she had contacted someone to tell them of my missing record and that that someone would contact me.

I was skeptical. Again. I had not yet been won over.

Imagine my surprise when I awoke the following day to discover that I had been contacted by someone requesting specific details of my plight which had been composed sometime before and sent at 10.30pm!

10.30pm!

I am not ashamed to admit to you that I was already in bed at this point so in some ways, this person was more determined than I to set things right as I had abandoned my thoughts about vaccines to indulge in some QI before retiring.

Once the email had been digested, I quickly responded with the required information and advised that I would call Resham, as that was the helpful person's name, at a more hospitable hour than 6am to discuss the issue and seek her advice.

I spoke to her. She was helpful. She said she will look into it and she has passed it on to someone else. And so the saga continues...

So, what is the point of this article? Is it to slate the NHS? Is it to tell you about a very arduous process which is still unresolved? Is it to vent my frustration? Well, yes, in part, it has been written with all of those things in mind, to a degree.

However, my main purpose in writing about this is to ask: why?

Why does it have to be so hard?

I've been trying to put my finger on this and there are a number of factors at play that make the modern life so hard. Don't get me wrong: there are far more serious states of being in which I could find myself at the moment that would be incredibly difficult to endure and would test the very strongest and most resilient of us and I am grateful that my problems are not of a survivalist nature - will I live through today, that sort of thing.

But the frustrations of modern life are real and they are a main contributor to stress - they have to be. I live a relatively charmed existence and I find the situation in which I find myself with vaccines stressful - it is on my mind constantly; I don't have the means to solve it; I am relying on others who are strangers to me; I don't have a clue if it will ever be resolved, never mind a timescale; I have paper documentation but it is not in the "right" format so it is useless; I have, until recently, never spoken to the same person about this problem twice.

I don't want to sound old-fashioned with frankly fatuous and unhelpful statements about the "good old days" as I have to say that I like this modern world. I like the streaming of TV programmes and the ability to travel far and wide and vaccines that are devised by clever people to keep me alive and cars that easily allow me independence and...I could go on.

But this modern world of computerisation, which brings us closer to quicker understanding with its clickable knowledge and convenience actually serves to distance us too.

A paradox.

With this reliance on apps and computer access to records, the human element is being replaced. I know that I spoke to a person when I phoned 119 but I have phoned them numerous times and I have never spoken to the same person twice. I don't even know their name unless I ask for it. There is distance there.

Because I am just a person on the phone, there is a lack of invested interest in helping me: it is easier, in some respects, to pass it along. And because you can never get to talk to or know the person who pointed you in a certain direction again, you can never get any answers.

I know that people are generally polite when I speak to them and I always speak courteously to whoever I encounter but I do sometimes feel that I am being stonewalled; that the ability to help could be there if a little more effort was injected but that that process itself would break some imaginary job parameters and so, can not be pursued. But why would they do that?

They don't know me. They have no vested interest in me really - I am a voice, an email, a faceless query. Distant.

We might be part of the same world but we are not part of the same community and that is where this whole process falls down. We are not really connected.

And I can't help thinking that in trying to make the world more convenient that we have actually succeeded in doing the reverse and have made it more complicated and less efficient. It has become more narrow paradoxically by being broadened, reliant on systems that are great if your data fits into the "box" that encompasses the norm, but if your details are slightly different to this, then you are setting yourself up for a whole host of trouble. Communication is stilted and stifled, restricted and diminished - there are no clear channels to follow, no actual known people to talk to.

I wonder about the logical thought that goes into the establishment of these systems, you know. Covid has been a fast-moving phenomenon that has impacted the many. It has been difficult to keep up with, with its mutations, and adaptations have had to have been made quickly. We, as a society, are impatient for answers, having created a world where we can source things easily and have them delivered to our door or, as mentioned, in the case of information, we can click and it is there. We have become in need of instant gratification.

As a result, we are more demanding and this applies pressure to others who need to give us what we want in the face of criticism or blame levelled at them and so, we are given what we want but this is done hastily and without thorough thought. There are glitches and inconsistencies that could have been ironed out with more care and attention and, of course, more time, but we, as the public, are unwilling to provide this. These systems are fallible, we get impatient with them, we make demands...and so the cycle continues. The cycle of inefficiency and frustration.

I feel like we as consumers have to take some of the blame. We have demanded this of our world and the world has provided it but because of our impatience to have it, it is not perfect. And I don't want to give up the joys of smartphones and texting my friends in Canada and Australia and streaming Killing Eve. I don't. But I can't help thinking that things could be easier somehow if we weren't so technology dependent.

You see, if my handwritten record was acceptable from the walk-in clinic where I had my booster vaccine, then there would be no need for it to be entered into a computer record at all because I would have the responsibility of presenting that piece of paper and I can do that quite easily, as I have it very much in my possession. For me, this would be problem solved.

But such a rudimentary piece of evidence is deemed inadmissible and therefore, is not seen as proof.

This is the burden which I must bear for living in a modern world, ruled by technology. It is a burden that has been thrust upon me by fraudulent individuals who want to bypass the system. It is a burden created by the perceived expediency provided by computers and their ease of information retrieval. It is a burden that may or may not become sorted before my trip to Tenerife. It is one over which I have limited control.

Wish me luck. I'm going to need it. And if I am lucky, perhaps, just perhaps, you may be able to wish me Bon voyage.