Covid19 1st Dose Vaccination with Sinovac

Today, March 12, 2021, I got my 1st dose of Covid19 vaccination. The vaccine that arrived first in Iligan City, Philippines was Sinovac, and inoculation with the medical frontliners was directly initiated. Since I'm a Physical Therapist working in a hospital setting, I got the opportunity to get my first dose today.

Our hospital is currently the covid19 vaccination center in Iligan City. All medical and administrative staff in the hospital were first in the line, the first few doses were being administered first by the doctors. It is a way of showing their staff and the public that there is nothing to fear with the vaccine and its process.

The entire vaccination process have 5 procedures:

1. Registration

This is to check if you are in the masterlist of medical frontliners receiving the vaccine for that day, you are also given the form to fill in disclosing your medical history of existing allergies, other diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and etc, maintenance medications and history of Covid19 infection/exposure.. A vaccination card is also given, showing your name, the date of 1st dose, name of nurse administering the vaccine and type of vaccine given.

2. Counselling

In this station, people on queue for vaccination are given necessary information about the vaccine and what to expect after receiving the shot. The personnel will also explain what's in the card and where to check your 2nd dose, usually after 21 days from the 1st shot.

3. Pre-screening

People are screened here for vital signs namely: Blood Pressure, Pulse Rate, Respiratory Rate, Oxygen Saturation. There are also doctors screening especially for high risk individuals. If during Pre-screening you show signs of hypertension, you are given time to rest, one proceed if BP goes down to normal or might get another appointment when he/she stabilizes.

4. Vaccination

You'll receive your shot here. It is a bit painful like all other vaccines you receive in the past, but tolerable though.

5. Post-Monitoring

After you get the shot, you'll be under monitoring for 30 mins. People under monitoring are group into two: low risk and high risk. I was in the low risk room because I have stable vital signs after the shot, praise God! Perhaps my medical history has no issues whatsoever so I dont need to be closely monitored. My colleagues who are Physical Therapist too, got an increase in blood pressure after the shot at 150/90 mmHg, so they're in the room for high risk. After 30 minutes one them have the same BP and so she was given medications and another 15 minutes of monitoring. As for me, I was released after the 30-min. monitoring period, and was even back to the department working with patients. Sigh. But I thank God for that because I'm doing pretty well after the shot.

What to expect after Covid19 vaccination?

As for my experience, I only had a slight increase in BP, from 100/80 mmHg to 120/80 mmHg, our doctor said that was normal. In the evening, I got some pain in the puncture site, some heaviness in my shoulder, and felt a bit fatigue/ or tired. These are the signs some of my colleagues are experiencing, so I must say these must be normal signs too.

My advice?

• Be honest in the medical history during the registration and screening.

• Don't be afraid, because chances are you'll get stress out and the more stressed you are, the more symptoms you'll get after vaccination. Like an elevated BP, difficulty breathing, etc.

• If you're hypertensive, take your medication first thing in the morning

Get vaccinated and be part of the solution this world needs against Covid19!

Before heading home, we stopped by at the hospital lobby for some selfie, lol! Meet the Rehabilitation Medicine Team! 😉💪

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Photo (first) from Pixabay (free to use)

Photo below, lead image and second one in the article are all Mine

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#resbakuna #resbakuna2021 #sinovac #covid19vaccination #covid19

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