Jordanian Health Care 2.0

Hey Everyone,

The last time I posted about medical care in Jordan, I had nothing but good things to say. I still believe that medical care in Jordan is good, but I have a story that is too funny to not share. With no further ado, here goes.

A few weeks ago, the US state department issued a warning that Polio had been found in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, and that they advise all expats to make sure to be immunized.  For people under the age of 20, it is strongly suggested (the way a 5 AM fitness session for a sports team is optional), and for people above the age of 20, it’s their choice. We were all vaccinated as toddlers and told before the program that getting the polio booster was possible but not necessary, so none of us did before getting here. 

Someone on my program asked our AD how to get vaccinations and he said he would take care of it. This was maybe two or three weeks ago. Last week, we got an email saying that we had to be at our building at 10 AM sharp to get vaccinated. It was required for all people under 20 and optional for anyone older.

I showed up at our building at quarter to 10, and half of our program was already there. None of us knew anything: we didn’t know if we were getting pills, drops, or shots; we didn’t know if we had to pay for it ourselves; we didn’t know how getting the booster would affect our previous immunizations. But it’s Jordan, so per usual, we went with it.

At about 10:15, SIT’s Logistical Coordinator posted to Facebook that all of us have to be in the building now because a person will be here to give us shots for two hours. When we asked him, we learned that, of course, they weren’t there yet. But he had talked to the Minister of Health the day before, so no problem.

At 11:15, a group of Jordanians wearing lab coats walked down the stairs and asked us if we wanted to do the shots in a private room or in the main room (in which we were all sitting). They then told us to prepare our left arms and get out our immunization cards (if we had them with us). If we didn’t have our cards, no broblem. I am not making up what happened next:

One at a time, we walked up to the people in lab coats with needles, and they gave us shots. They didn’t clean our arms, they didn’t say anything to us before during or after, and they didn’t put any sort of band-aid on the hole when the needle was taken out. SIT had one of the volunteers there with a camera taking pictures of all of us as we were getting shots. I can’t wait for the photo of me being stabbed with a polio vaccine to appear on Facebook. As we all got shots, SIT called everyone that wasn’t there to make sure they showed up quickly so they could get their polio vaccine. I was glad I had chosen to get my optional booster, because obviously, this shot is important.

As more and more people that had their vaccination cards started to compare notes on what vaccinations they had gotten, we couldn’t help but notice that the vaccine listed on the card was “MR.” At first we thought that Polio just had a weird acronym, but then we realized that none of us had gotten the polio booster.

We had all just gotten vaccinated for Measles and Rubella. Um. What?

I asked Mohammad, the volunteer, what we were vaccinated with, and he told us that we got the Polio vaccine. When I told him that his guess was incorrect, he was as surprised as we were.

We expressed our concerns to the guy who had just administered shots to all of us dumb Americans, and he told us nonchalantly that people over the age of 5 rarely get Polio. The booster shot exists, but not in Jordan. Seeing as we had all been immunized as children, we didn’t need to get it. However, over 100 cases of Measles have been reported recently in Syrian refugee camps, so they figured giving us that booster was a good idea. Before coming to Jordan, every single one of us had gotten that vaccination. We weren’t sure if they gave us a vaccine for a different strand of Measles or not, but to make ourselves feel better, we decided they did.

At this point, I felt like a total idiot. I have always been taught to ask a million questions when it comes to medical things, and this time, I hadn’t asked anything. I literally rolled up my sleeve and handed my arm to a person that was giving shots in an assembly line the way people in the great depression received bread. For all I know, they literally implanted a GPS tracking device for the NSA to use to know where I am at all times (hi NSA!). For all I know, they gave me a shot of saline to make me, a paranoid American, stop freaking out. I literally allowed this woman to give me a shot because she was wearing a lab coat.

So I'm dumb, I am super vaccinated for measles, and I really hope I don't get polio. 

APPENDIX

Later in the day, a girl on my program checked in with the American embassy to ask them about what happened and what we should do about it. I have copied and pasted her post so you can get an idea of just how ridiculous this situation actually is. 

So update on the vaccination situation: I have spoken to both my mom (at 1:30 am whoops) and the US Embassy in Jordan to try to find out where to get the polio vaccine. 

Measles: The vaccine that those of you who got a vaccine this morning received was the MR (Measles and Rubella). This was a completely unnecessary vaccine for you to receive. As a child we all received two MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccines. This was required for us to attend kindergarten in the United States. People need two MMR vaccines in their lifetime in order to be considered completely immunized for Measles. What you received this morning was this vaccine without the mumps (just M and R). It was an extra and unnecessary dose. However it will NOT hurt you that you received it. There are potential side effects to any vaccine but there are not any more because this was an extra does. If you did not get the vaccine this morning and went to school in the US (aka all of you), do not go receive another MR or MMR vaccine. You do not need it and that is a waste. When I spoke to the embassy they confirmed this is saying that adults who have had 2 MMR vaccines in their life time should not get another one! They are only recommending that adults who have none or only one does receive one (which is none of you because again you went to school in the US as a kid). I am aware that the doctor said this morning that there is a new strain of Measles. This is not the case. It would be all over the news if it was. There is an outbreak of measles in Jordan but it is one of the 21 strains that MMR protects against. Again there is not a new strain and you should not receive a vaccine if you did not this morning. 

Polio: The reason I spoke to the embassy was to find out where to get the vaccine now that SIT is not helping us. They told me that any MOH (ministry of health) hospital should have the vaccine and they are unaware of only people under five being able to get the vaccine. They believe that US citizens of any age should be able to get the vaccine at an MOH hospital. There is currently no polio vaccine shortage so there should be no reason it is restricted. They could not tell me how much this vaccine will cost. I also do not know where the hospitals are. I do know you need to go to a public ministry of health hospital (according to the embassy). My suggestion is that after the first person or people go, you post here where you went and how much it costs and obviously if you were able to get the vaccine. The embassy did say that all US citizen adults in Jordan who have not received a Polio vaccine (booster but it is the same vaccine as the child one) since they were 18 years of age should receive the vaccine now. That is their recommendation and the recommendation from my mom as well.