I recently went to meet with my doctor – my new doctor. We were to go over the results of my routine lab tests and I had a list of questions. Among those questions was one I had put to my former doctor but he had never come up with an answer.
The question was: Is it possible to get a shingles vaccine through the health service? And if not, is the vaccine approved in Spain so that I could go and pay and get it from a private clinic?
My new doctor knew I had that question pending and had an answer ready. A very weird answer at that.
A vaccine had just recently been approved. It was approved for people 69 and 80 years old. OK, fine. I fall within that span. No, it’s not a span. The department of health has approved the shingles vaccine for people aged 69 and for people aged 80. Those younger, older, or inbetween are not eligible.
Really.
“Of course that is absurd,” he told me. He figured someone in some office must have made a mistake and surely soon someone in authority would figure it out and it would be fixed. He suggested I come back at the beginning of March.
If the problem hasn't been resolved by the beginning of March (and you're still alive), let me know and I'll send you the money to pay for it. (Meir Hankin)
ReplyDeleteYou're a sweetheart. But money is not the problem. Until about a month ago the vaccine was not approved for use by the Spanish health department that is, you couldn't get it publicly or privately. Now that it is, my doctor suggested that I wait until that stupid glitz with the Catalan health service is resolved. If it isn't resolved by early March, I'll just get it privately.
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