I Tried to Find Vaccines For My Non-English Speaking Grandparents

I served as a translator between my grandfather and pharmacist

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Visiting my childhood home for a couple days on spring break, my father called me to task me with getting my grandparents COVID vaccines. My grandparents have been living in America for the last couple of years, and they do not know any English. Being the most tech-savvy person in the house at the moment, I was the best person for the job. As such, I went on VaccineFinder.org and scoured the site for any vaccines within a reasonable vicinity.

I found a lot of available vaccine appointments. They required me to drive four or five hours to various places in upstate New York. I refreshed over and over again for vaccinations at all the big pharmacies in New York: CVS, Walgreen’s, and Stop & Shop. I legitimately could not find any for a long period of time, as I refreshed over and over and traversed three separate tabs.

However, I am tenacious and persistent, and I knew my grandparents would have been better off sooner rather than later. Finally, a vaccine appointment popped up at a CVS only seven miles from where we lived. I got my grandparents’ insurance information, filled out the form, tried to translate and ask about any pre-existing health conditions, and within 20 minutes, I got…