Categories
Coronavirus

Still Waiting to Get Vaccinated?

Over the weekend the government announced that starting June 27th, only those who’ve been vaccinated will be able to dine at restaurants, visit large malls, go to the gym or visit the hair salon. Obviously, the reason behind this decision is to push people to get vaccinated, but many expat residents have signed up to get vaccinated since December and have yet to get an appointment. I think so at least because I still get comments on older posts of people complaining they registered in December or January and have still not gotten an appointment.

Seems pretty unfair so here is a quick poll to get a rough idea of how long people have been waiting for their appointment:

[poll id=”17″]

60 replies on “Still Waiting to Get Vaccinated?”

Surprised to see the poll result! 35% vaccinated? Either locals, above 50 or wasta. Majority expats under 50 didn’t receive even a single jab. Regardless of the waiting period everyone should get at least one shot. Countries around the world are prioritizing to give one dose of vaccine to everyone.

Hi Mark,
I my wife and I registered in Jan and we got the message day before yesterday and got vaccinated yesterday.
God Bless MOH for the great work and patience.

that is not true, most of the Expats that I know got their vaccine through their work place. I would recommend going to the registration website and change anthing and update again.

Living in Kuwait since last 27 years, registered for “myself 38 years” and “wife 37 years” since late December 2020 and till now we have been left to the corner as not even one dose, updated the portal many times but no results now I believe we are not priority to Kuwait government as i am working in a private firm and wife is housewife.
I don’t mind to pay for the vaccine, keep the free ones for u and ur concern employees to protect ur nationals, just provide and allow the vaccine to the private clinics and hospitals.

You are not alone. I know too many people who have not been vaccinated and have been waiting just as long. We need help. The Kuwaiti government is lying when they say they are prioritizing vaccinations. If they were there wouldnt be so many of us unvaccinated.

Stupid and Ridiculous rule …

First off expats who want to be vaccinated can’t be vaccinated because they have to go through a registration process that is basically like waiting for a lottery. You put your name in and wait for the ball to fall on your name.

Why cant they just provide a small number of vaccines to the individual clinics around the country and ask expats to go to their health centers as per their civil Id and get vaccinated? When the vaccines in the health center run out. Register the individuals who are there already and missed out and prioritize them for the next day. Develop a system that works. We already have a centralized data system that is based on the civil id. From that system, one can clearly see if the individual is clear to get the vaccine or not.

Then, there are also those individuals who have been infected with the virus either asymptomatic or with severe symptoms that have to wait 90 days before they can even register and after registering again have to wait for another 30 to 60 days before they get the call to come to get vaccinated. Some have been infected twice and technically should be immune and again have to wait for 90 days and go through the registration process These individuals shouldn’t have to wait. If the system shows that they have been infected and are past the 90 days give them the regulatory single shot or booster shot and clear them

With this law, I doubt if a majority of expats the infected and recovered or otherwise are ever gonna get to see the inside of a mall or a restaurant anytime soon.

Your points are great, and they raise a lot of interesting questions.

– Who is the target of vaccinations, Kuwaitis, or expats?
– Is this “carrot” aimed toward getting Kuwaitis vaccinated, or expats?
– Who would disallowing access to public venues affect more, Kuwaitis, or expats?
– When do you say, “Okay, Kuwaitis…we’re done waiting for you. We’re going to focus on the willing.”

There’s two ways to negatively reinforce (punish) in this case. In this case, it’s denying someone of a privilege. “If you don’t get vaccinated, then you can’t do X.” The other way, the way they’ll never opt for, is to say, “If we don’t use these 50,000 doses on Kuwaitis, we will actively prioritize the expats who registered.” Which, if you were willing to cordon off entire sections of the country because you thought the expat community was the cause of the spread, maybe you should be willing to address the expat community FIRST. Not as an enticement to get them into the gyms and McDonald’s and theaters, but as a means of preventive health.

So, yes…provide an incentive (carrot) to get vaccinated. However, if you can’t get Kuwaitis to get their jabs, then offer the stick of making those jabs available to expats who are willing to get vaxxed. That stick becomes a carrot to expats who will see that there’s a chance they’ll actually get poked. Slowing the expat pipeline in hopes that Kuwaitis will get vaccinated is simply that…magical thinking.

Totally unacceptable,
I would understand such law if the vaccine is available to everyone who registers.
But a lot of people are welling to get vaccinated since day one,
like myself, I registered in December and the odds of me getting a shot any time soon seems like a dream, considering my mother who is above 56 and still didn’t get an appointment

Registered in December, did not get a date.
Had Covid in March.
Waiting for 90 day period to end.
However, on renewing my Civil ID, the e-civil ID shows that I am vaccinated.
I did not even get a date after registering the first time, so no clue how it is showing I am vaccinated now.

That’s because as you mentioned you were covid positive and recovered and according the the Immune App if you have previously been infected and recovered after 30 days you seem to be on the same boat as someone who had got the Jabs.
Weird but it is what it is!

oh wait, just realized it’s actually not weird.

So you can’t get the vaccine until 3 months after you got covid. Because you got covid you’re temporarily immune hence why it’s showing you as vaccinated/immune depending on the app you’re in. once your 3 months are up you’ll get your appointment to get vaccinated. Previously if you had contracted covid 3 months before you just needed 1 shot but I’ve understood thats changed and you now require two shots.

So it should show as “Not vaccinated” after the 90 days are up – I hope.

But yes, that explanation does make sense.

I’ve got mine through avenues cause our store staff were getting them so I asked to add my name to the list since they didn’t check if I worked in avenues.. I rolled a dice by also adding all my friends and family to the list too. We all registered in December and would have still been waiting for it.

Some say, go to hall and tell them you’re waiting since December and they redo the registration for you so good luck hope it works.

Also, there is many hacks and tricks on the registration page that could get you a appointment within 2 days that I can’t put on a public page.

ZTLFIRE a user on Twitter was pretty instrumental in informing people of the rumors of re-registration and the like.

Yep. He went to Mishref yday and came back with the same feedback which I did today after waiting in a queue for god knows how long just to reach the enquiry counter.

No point in heading to Mishref without an appointment. Just keep checking that your registration is active and wait at home.

What about vaccinating all staff working in restaurants, cafes, gyms, beauty salons and malls?…Does that imply that only users of the mentionned facilities have to get vaccinated?

I went to grab ice cream with my wife on thursday evening into a baskin robins, waited for the talabat driver who was in there to get out, so we 2 could walk in (* the block 12 salmiya, baskin robins if you know what it is it cannot accommodate more than 2 comfortably).

Behind me were a Kuwaiti Couple, who rushed in as soon as My wife and I walked in, no masks, no social distancing, and when the store staff asked them to wait out since they did not have masks, they said “yalla yalla its ok..” The store staff was speechless, the poor guy would probably get a black eye if he asked again. Not trying to point fingers but, this kind of ignorance exists not only with Expats but even the locals, and with this attitude what do you expect other than the cases to rise.

what i am trying to say is there are a huge number of people not vaccinated but also a huge number of people who are oblivious to the fact that this country as is the entire world is going through a pandemic, and until this sort of ignorance is not taken care of there is no point putting all our hopes on vaccinations.

There are so many bonehead expats who have wasta who also think they can do whatever the F they like.

I saw on Instagram one of those “fitness influencer people” taking videos and pictures of a wedding he went to over the weekend where no one was wearing a mask and everyone was having a gay old time.

So I can’t shop in 360 alone because I haven’t been vaccinated but people are having weddings and posting that crap on Instagram to rub our faces in it?!

“Look at me, I’m so obnoxious and privileged. I can go to super spreader events and post all about them on Instagram while you peasants cant enter a mall as of next week!”

With so many variants popping up now, how will these vaccine manufacturers keep up? And how come medication is not properly utilized? What’s wrong with using medicine?

This is just ridiculous. OK… they can do whatever they want! BUT, by limiting the number of people’s access to large malls and restaurants, the economy in Kuwait WILL suffer. Have these decision heads not learned from last year?

They are so focused on prioritizing the Kuwaitis and removing rights from the expats little by little so that we will all leave the country. This country will eventually get what they want and regret very soon.

What about the people who can’t get vaccinated due to health problems? I haven’t seen any announcement about them.

Mark, did your friend who’s pregnant get an exemption from vaccine so that she can enter malls? If so, how?

Does this new law barring entry to non-vaccinated mean that i will not be able to attend the office, since it happens to be in a mall complex and am not vaccinated yet?

Registered same day as Kuwaiti husband , he’s received his 2 doses , I have not received my appointment. Been and done all the re-registration at mishrif and bla bla bla … Its been a real wake up call for us , and we’re going to leave kuwait permanently. My husband as a kuwaiti would have equal rights to me and we’d both already be vaccinated back home. Sorry kuwait, we tried.

1) Arab Times isn’t a reliable source

2) Arab Times can’t do basic maths. 3.1 million does not equal 72.4% of the population. How many of those 3.1 mil doses are two doses? By now most of the people who got Oxford got both doses and most of those who got pfizer also got both doses. So if the 3.1 million is mostly two doses, that would put the percentage closer to 40% and not 72%. The poll I put up on my blog yesterday currently shows that only 37% of my readers have been vaccinated which is a figure closer to 40% than it is to 72%.

Fellow Americans,

The US Ambassador will be holding a Townhall meeting on 06/28. Would those of you who are also afraid of mRNA vaccines like me, send Romanowski an email suggesting the Embassy to provide J&J vaccines to US citizens in Kuwait, like the government did for the people on the Base here?

I really don’t want to be vaccinated. But if I have to choose one just to be able to move around freely, I much rather take the Chinese ones or Johnson & Johnson.

You should get the first COVID-19 vaccine that is available to you. Do not wait for a specific brand. All currently authorized and recommended COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and CDC does not recommend one vaccine over another.

Any new news with anyone?

I’ve called 151 multiple times i never get an answer, after about 20 minutes the line simply hangs up. Have also tried the call back option 5 seperate times in as many weeks but never get one.

I registered on 28th Dec, i have high bp, obesity and am diabetic. Tried the update option and no use, went to Mishref and no use.

I’m worried here.

I had tried 151 but like you said no response but got a call back from them and was asked to go to Mishref, this was like last month, went to Mishref and after wasting couple hours and visiting around 5 counters the reply I received was that go home n wait for your message so I’m waiting since December, hopefully I’ll get the vaccine before I am infected

@Sunny, What did Mishref say to you? Maybe you might be exempted from the vaccine based on your health conditions, but the MoH should provide you with documentation saying you can’t get vaccinated.

That was not fake news. It was a fact. Just because it doesn’t fit the image you’re trying to disseminate doesn’t mean its untrue. You are in fact the main source I’m encountering for fake news nowadays. I can’t believe you’re doing it unintentionally which only makes me wonder what is the point of going this far.

Mosque workers vaccinated: https://www.aljarida.com/articles/1617465403652982400/ its easier to google news papers. but this info was also posted on MOH social media pages.

Coop workers vaccinated: https://www.aljarida.com/articles/1618161319676386900/

Malls workers: https://www.aljarida.com/articles/1621432886065045600/ , https://tinyurl.com/47ekfwba

No appointment needed for over 65 yo expats to vaccinate: https://www.sabr.cc/2021/04/20/452004/

MOH prioritizing food service workers to vaccinate: https://twitter.com/kuwait_moh/status/1391784813150019586

So what fake news did I say? If you have ounce of integrity you’d man up and respond.

oh and I hope you’re satisfied with my IP address today?

It’s fake news because you shared inaccurate information without sources to serve your naive narrative. As I said, the fact you’re not in Kuwait has caused you to be disconnected from the realities here. The articles above you’ve linked have no correlation to the fact that a vast majority of expats haven’t been vaccinated with many waiting since December. If you don’t believe that and think expats are lying and all the comments here are fake, then that’s just you with your tin hat but not the reality of the situation.

I’m not calling your commenters liars, only selfish and dumb. Selfish for wanting to skip the line. Dumb for failing to comprehend that the vaccines everywhere in the world are not distributed on first come first served bases but there is more into it. My information is accurate, you just don’t like it because it contradicts the narrative you’re trying to push. If you genuinely believed my narrative was “fake news”, you would have left it there for everyone to dismiss it. But nope, it ruins your narrative so whats the best thing to do? What every dictator does… silence who doesn’t agree with you! xD

Same like the rest. Got the run around and was then told to go home and wait. I’m not exempted and actually do want to get the vaccine.

I already registered. but still not come my sms. Now I need to COVID-19 vaccines please help me guys

i was corona positive before, i get vaccinated first dose only, i need second dose also. but message came your dose are completed. what is the solution for that

Leave a Reply to Mark Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *