AT 7:30 a.m. April 21, Zhang Yuting, a nurse from the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH), arrived at the hospital early. After a simple breakfast, Zhang, along with other staff members attended the vaccination clinic’s daily morning meeting.
Senior head nurse Huang Jing and head nurses Liu Li and Li Yi presided over the morning meeting. Staff ran over the matters needing attention that day and medics would also review coping measures for emergencies.
The day’s COVID-19 vaccine supplies were brought to the hospital’s vaccination room from the hospital pharmacy and stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius in the refrigerator before the vaccination work started.
Each vaccinator then took out the required doses of vaccines from the refrigerator and put them in their own incubators. “We would take out about 10 doses at a time,” Zhang told Shenzhen Evening News.
At 8:30 a.m., the vaccination work for the day officially started. Zhang donned her protective clothes and nurse’s cap, spread a layer of protective cloth on the table and then prepared cotton swabs, alcohol and syringes.
During the inoculation process, Zhang would repeatedly confirm the recipients’ information and told them some dos and don’ts after giving the vaccine. “I want to make sure there are no mistakes in every link, so I’d rather ask a few more times than omit any details,” she said.
In the vaccination room of HKU-SZH, there are five vaccination units. In one morning, the five vaccinators including Zhang can each vaccinate nearly 30 people.
On April 13, Guangdong Province rolled out COVID-19 vaccinations for foreigners as well as Hong Kong and Macao residents living in the province. HKU-SZH became one of the seven (now eight) designated hospitals to vaccinate these groups of people.
The vaccinators in the hospital can all speak Mandarin but can also communicate in Cantonese and English. “We also have professional translators in case of special circumstances,” Liu said.
The emergency department of the hospital provides a 24-hour trilingual (English, Cantonese, Mandarin) service hotline 86913111 for post-vaccination consultation.
Zhang said that foreigners were often seen live-broadcasting on their mobile phones when they get vaccinated and they would proudly say to the camera, “Look! I’m getting vaccinated in China!”
Zhang feels motivated whenever she sees such a scene. “I feel that my responsibility is heavier and their trust also encourages us to continue to work seriously.”