I work for an agency that handles questions about a state digital COVID-19 vaccine record system. I just had a caller who needed to find his digital vaccine record because his job demanded it and he would get fired if he didn't get it; he was vaccinated but his record is somewhere lost in the system; he had lost his card earlier when someone stole his wallet. There was nothing I could do about it but tell him to go back to where he got his vaccination, which by the way already told him they cannot give him another copy of his card. I do not have direct access to anyone's records; the most I can do is help people fill out the form to get it found or fixed; which takes a week or even more to process; it also requires people to have a home address, social security number, email, a smartphone, and a phone number and of course this means the system cares little about equity.
I get many calls a week like this. I also get them from people who need to visit dying relatives at the hospital but can't because their vaccination records are missing. I get them from people who cannot get their booster shots because an error in their record says they got the booster already, some where not even given a card. I don't know these people's fates but they likely aren't good.
I need to do something to help change this system but it's very hard and the people I reach out to can only help if they knew people harmed by system but of course it's illegal for me to give out this information.
Anyone else relate to that trolley meme that goes “You can only watch”? Does your job force you to stand by while people's lives are getting ruined and do nothing about it except say “no I can't do anything about it, sorry”?