Killing for the Betterment of Humanity *long and stupid warning*

[Kisa]

Long story short, I'm going to China for a learning vacation and I need to be vaccinated for Polio and Typhoid. Stupidity and frustration ensues....

First
I call my doctor who says they only do regular vaccinations; not travel. They give me the number for a medical center I'll call St. Richard.

Second
I call St. Richard's. We play phone tag for a week, finally catch each other, and I'm told they don't accept insurance. Period. I ask how much without insurance. She tells me it would be $193+tax. Holy crap monkeys! I just spent $4500 for plane tickets, passports, visas, etc. I decided to find a place that does take insurance. She directs me to a medical center I'll call University of Kisatown Travel Center. This place is a 90 minute drive from my house if I take the freeway, but it just so happens that freeway is closed for construction. That takes the drive up to 2 hours. No thanks.

Third
I find out that Wallgreens does travel vaccines. They do carry Polio and Typhoid. Cool cool. I call the one closest to my house which I will call Store A. I call Store A and ask if they take my insurance. Yes they do. Even cooler. Can I make an appointment? No, those vaccines aren't in stock. Store A tells me to call Store B because Store B has them.

Fourth
I call Store B. Store B says no, they don't have those vaccines in stock, but Store A does. I tell them that Store A directed me to them because they don't carry Polio and Typhiod vaccines. Store B apologises and gives me the number for Store C.

Fifth
I call store C.
Me: Hi, do you have the vaccines for Polio and Typhiod in stock?
Clueless Pharmacist: What is that?
Me: They are vaccines.
CP: Is that, like, an EpiPen?
Me: No....no it's not. They are vaccines for foreign diseases.
CP: Oh..no we don't have those.
Me: Do you know any store that would?
CP: Try Store D. Their number is *number*.

Sixth
I call Store D and get a dial-up tone. *screeeeeeeeccchhhhchuchungchuchungscrrrrrrrrrrrcc chhhh*
So I go online and get the numbers for Stores E, F, and G.

Seventh
I call Store E. Store E says no they don't have them either, but Store D does. I say I called Store D and got a dial-up tone. Store E calls Store D for me. No, Store D is out too. Then, Store E promptly hangs up on me......thanks......

Eighth
I call Store F. Store F puts me on hold for 21 mins 47 seconds. I hang up.

Nineth
I call Store G. No, Store G doesn't have them either, but Store A does.*facepalm* I say I called Store A and they are out as well as Stores B, C, D, and E. He apologises and gived me a 1-800 number. He explains that it is the number for HQ and they can tell me exactly what store has my vaccines in stock. I thank him and hang up.

Tenth
I call HQ, give my name and zip code and am instantly transferred to Store A.

Eleventh
I call HQ back, give my name and zip again and blurt that I do NOT want to be transferred to Store A. I explain I was told that someone here could look up what store had them in stock. She says no, this is the call center, they just transfer calls to stores.

Call #12
I Google "Travel Vaccine Clinic". Kroger Pharmacy pops up. I call Kroger A. Kroger A says no and hangs up instantly.

Call #13
I call Kroger B.
Me: Hi, I wanted to know if you have vaccines for Polio and Typhiod in stock.
Stupid Pharmacist: Wait...what are they?
Me: The vaccines for Polio and Typhiod.
SP: Um...what's the generic called?
Me: .....there is no generic. They are vaccinations.
SP: Does is come in a cream?
Me: No. I'm looking for Polio vaccines and Typhiod vaccines.
SP: Um......does it come in a gel?
Me: No. They are vaccines. They come in syringes.
SP: ...............uh? *to coworker* Do we have something called Polio?
Me: VACCINES for Polio.
SP: *to me* Huh?
Me: Vaccines, vaccinations, immunizations, shots, etc.
SP: *to coworker* Do we have vaccines?
CW: Yeah. For what?
SP: *to me* For what?
Me: Polio and Typhiod.
SP: *to CW* For Polio.
Me: AND Typhiod.
SP: *to CW* and Polio.
Me:
CW: No.
SP: *to me* No. Bye. *click*

Call 14...I think??
I return to Google and call the next clinic with no answer. I leave my name and number for a call back and that's where I am now....waiting.....

SP should be thanking his lucky stars that he was talking to me over the phone or I may have strangled him. I mean, how does one graduate Pharmacy College thinking that Polio is a medicine that comes in a gel?!!!

[Iris Kojiro]

Wooooowww, sorry to hear you went through all that! As someone who has tried and failed to get into pharmacy school (which is two years of undergrad study, the PCAT exam, and four years of graduate school as well as your two board exams), I also wonder how they graduated!

With call 14, I'm assuming that a technician took the call and was trying (and failing) to relay your questions to the pharmacist on duty, though I would assume that most techs would know that those are vaccinations and at least know if they're in stock.

At any rate, I hope you get your shots soon. Have fun in China!

[Sapphire Silk]

SP should be thanking his lucky stars that he was talking to me over the phone or I may have strangled him. I mean, how does one graduate Pharmacy College thinking that Polio is a medicine that comes in a gel?!!!

I think you were talking to a pharmacy tech, not a pharmacist. Any pharmacist would have known instantly what you were talking about.

I had similar problems when I went to Korea last summer. The website recommended Polio (which I had), Typhoid, Japanese encephalitis, and a couple of others. My doctor didn't have them, and recommended the public health department. He also told me I was asking too early; I had to wait to a specific time frame before my trip. He did give me a prescription for doxycycline as a preventative for malaria, and cipro in case I wound up with traveler's diarrhea.

The public health department had them, were cheap, would take my insurance . . . but I had to call back on a specific day to make an appointment. So I call on that day, and am told they are booked for a month.

I'm leaving in 2 weeks. Gah!

I ended up skipping the vaccinations. They weren't required to get into the country, so I said, "fuck 'em." And went without. And did fine.

[radiocerk]

My pharmacy is one in my area that does most of the vaccinations in my chain. If a pharmacist doesn't see them often, they might not know which vaccines they'd be looking for. And they give vaccines some weird names. Typhoid is Typhim, which makes sense, but Hepatitis A and B is Twinrix.

[kpzra]

I'll second the local public health department. Also give http://www.passporthealthusa.com/ a look. Without knowing where exactly you are those are the only things I can recommend.

[bean]

I have family that works for Walgreens.

I'll just say that... I'm not terribly surprised. They've been going through a ton of cost-cutting for the past couple of years.

[Mikkel]

What the h*ll, I know what those are.
How can anyone working in a pharmacy not know what a vaccine is?

Here I could ask my doctor to get the vaccines and go to his office and get them. I think your doctor could too, if he could be persuaded.

[Crescent Cat]

I think you were talking to a pharmacy tech, not a pharmacist. Any pharmacist would have known instantly what you were talking about.

I was just about to say that too. Still, a pharmacy tech should know this but then again given my personal experience with pharmacy techs I'm not surprised. I guess I just have my standards way too high.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

The best and least expensive place I've ever gotten immunizations was through my counties health and human services office. They had to special order in the vaccines for me, but there were no hassles. I called in, told the NP who answered the phone what I needed, she looked up the special order codes and set my appt for a week later. Five minutes on the phone, 15 minutes waiting, a couple minutes to get the shots, then another 30 minutes while the doc expounded on places I should go when I was in Europe.

[MoonCat]

Holy shit. Do they not teach people about polio and typhoid anymore? I know they aren't a big problem here but I thought pharmacy techs would at least have heard of the diseases...wow.

[Seshat]

Tell your doctor about your 'adventures'; and ask if his office can special-order the vaccines in for you.

[Ellain]

The proper response would have been for the pharmacy personnel to say, "We don't have any on hand. You could try other stores, or we could special order it for you, which would probably take <insert time frame>. Would you like us to do that?"

I'm sorry you had to deal with so much rudeness, stupidity, and laziness.

Though I have to say, I would have had to ask my pharmacist which vaccinations were for those diseases. They don't always have self explanatory names. But I would have recognized that they were diseases!

[Pixilated]

I think you were talking to a pharmacy tech, not a pharmacist.
*snip*

Dear gods, I hope not! I have flunked out of the pharmacy technician program, and even I would know what those are!

I'm sorry you had to deal with all that crap. Hope you can get your vaccinations without any more problems.

[Cia]

I asked my teen daughter what polio and typhoid were and she replied "Diseases? Something to do with Typhoid Mary?" So if my 12th grader can guess what those are then a pharm tech better know what they are.

[laborcat]

So tell me, did you ever manage to get your vaccinations?