Empty Syringes

A few days ago several people shared a video clip with me through WhatsApp, of a woman supposedly having her Covid-19 vaccine jab at a drive-through vaccination centre. The staff who gave her the jab could be seen inserting the needle into the recipient's arm and then withdrawing the needle without pressing the syringe, thus did not actually deliver the vaccine.

The video clip was followed by an audio recording of a man claiming that people are duped into believing that they're given the vaccines, when actually the shots are sold to others in the black market. He urged Malaysians not to buy the vaccines in the black market, so that there is no reason for medical staff at vaccination centres to withhold vaccines from the rightful recipients.

I think the claim of vaccines in the black market as suggested by the man in the audio recording is utter rubbish and ridiculous to the last degree. He talked without making any research whatsoever, but trying to appear as if he knew what he's talking about. The vaccines are given for FREE in Malaysia, and it's just a matter of waiting in the queue. Recently, the vaccination process has been expedited many folds, and I'd imagine that most people would rather wait for their turns, instead of buying from a black market source. Besides, the vaccines, say for example the one produced by Pfizer, are very unstable in the sense that they must be stored between -80C to -60C, and can be kept in the freezer prior to use at slightly higher temperatures for up to a month, but at any rate still below 0C. Once it is melted to room temperature, it can only last for up to 6 hours, and if still unused after that, will have to be discarded. To put the vaccine into a syringe and then save it to be sold in the black market is way too complicated and way too risky when taking the 6-hour window into account. 

The second possibility is not to melt the vaccine at all, but instead just use an empty syringe. In such a case, that could explain why the staff did not press the syringe even though she did insert the needle into the flesh. However, even this second idea makes little sense to me. It would be much easier to switch the vaccine with, say, plain water in the syringe, and then inject that into the recipient's arm, and then nobody has to know. Why would the evil staff have an empty syringe right in front of the husband who's filming the act, and risk getting caught (and she did get caught) when it's so much easier to put water in it? It makes no sense to me!

These are questions worth asking, but the problem is that most people, when receiving the audio recording would believe what the man said. Never mind if it defies logic and common sense. People are no longer keen on using their brains to think these days!

Although the police are investigating the matter as per this news article and no official explanation has been announced yet, I would venture to speculate that a much simpler explanation is that the staff on duty was just careless. That's just human nature. I think it's entirely possible that when one is doing a task repeatedly and continuously too many times, there will come a time when that task becomes too monotonous until the entire process becomes mechanical, that is to say, it is done without thinking; rather, almost entirely on muscle memory! And it was in such a way that the staff, without thinking, inserted the needle into the arm, and then withdrew it without even remembering if she had actually pressed the syringe to deliver the vaccine! I don't know this for a fact, of course, but I'm just speculating, mind. Now IF it happened like that, then the next thing to discover is if that staff worked too long beyond reasonable hours to result in such carelessness. Or the other way of putting it, did her superior insist that she continue working beyond the threshold of mental fatigue? Those are questions worth investigating if we are to get to the bottom of this whole thing.

I've said earlier that that's just human nature. We all make mistakes every now and then. But the standard of care expected of us is not the same in every case. Take an ordinary road user for example. We can probably accept that he is liable to make mistakes, such as driving too fast or using his cellphone while driving, eventually resulting in an accident. Road accidents happen almost on a daily basis, and although it's something we're concerned about, it has become something quite common and almost expected to happen. Now take the case of a commercial airplane pilot instead. We would expect a much, much higher standard of care from him because most people consider he has a much bigger responsibility than the ordinary road user. Even a small mistake by a pilot can lead to the loss of many human lives. If the public loses confidence in the pilot, that can have serious repercussion to the airline that he's working for.

It is the same with the careless medical staff. She is dealing with human lives on a daily basis, and it is imperative that the public has full confidence in her standard of care in performing her duties. The public, even knowing fully well that she's only human and can't escape from making mistakes, would expect her NOT to make this kind of mistake in the vaccination process. This is important, because we are trying to expedite the vaccination process in Malaysia in the hope of achieving the herd immunity, and this sort of mistake can potentially derail the plan if people lose confidence in the programme.