Getting my First Jab

As some of my friends from noise.cash knows, I just received my first jab of vaccination against COVID-19 yesterday. This is the reason why I opted to not publish an article yesterday.

Today, I want to share how the process that I went through to get my first dose. I would also share what side effects one can expect as well as when to get the 2nd dose.

I am writing this article not to brag about getting vaccinated, but because I want people who are hesitant to get the vaccine to hear from the people who have already been vaccinated.

I managed to get vaccinated this early because we are part of a government program known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). My mother is also an A4 in the priority list as well as both my father and sister. In our city, when one household member is getting vaccinated, they agree to let the other members join them as well.

I am not going to include any city in my article as I would like to keep cobfidentiality especially to where I lived. If it is a different for each cities, feel free to share it with us in the comment section so that we can all be aware together.

Pre-Registration

In our city, we had to fill up a form online to "save a slot" for vaccination. Then, the barangay officials will call us to tell us about when our schedule will be and what tent are we assigned.

There are different tents for different priority classifications which make the vaccination process faster because everyone can get vaccinated at the same time.

As for our family, since we were part of the beneficiaries of 4Ps, our schedule was already listed and my mother was informed via the group chat of all the beneficiaries.

Our schedule was actually on June 18. However, our mother missed the announcement so we missed it. Thankfully, we were informed that as long as we are listed in the masterlist, we can go get the vaccine anytime.

Day of Vaccination

During the day of vaccination, my sisters and I looked for Tent A as that is where we were assigned.

We had to fall in line as we wait for our turn, making sure to follow the social distancing protocol.

Inside, there were people assigned for the masterlist of each day. We found ours at the June 18 masterlist. It is an easy process as our names were listed alphabetically.

Then, we were given a piece of paper containing some information about where to go. We then had to line up again for the registration phase.

Registration

We had to fill up a form and we were given a vaccination ID card. The form includes personal information to be filled up like name, age, sex, and signatures.

It also contains a detailed information about the vaccine and what side effects we can expect. It listed all the contact information we can use as well, should we have an allergic reaction to the vaccine.

There is also a checklist in the form about one's medical history. It includes questions about being exposed to a COVID positive individual in the past 14 days, or if one has been COVID positive in the past. There are also questions about pregnancy and allergies.

The checklist is asked to us by medical professionals. All the while, they make sure to confirm our identity by asking us our names and ages before starting.

The vaccination ID card contains our name, birthday and sex. At the back of the card, there is the day where we got our 1st and 2nd dose as well as the one who administered the vaccine to us.

Once, we get through the registration phase, we are now pointed at the vaccination site.

Vaccination

We had to wait for a few minutes to be allowed inside the vaccination tent. I forgot how many are exactly allowed inside the tent but they only allowed few people inside, with social distancing as well. It was air-conditioned inside the tent and you can see where they store the vaccine.

There we wait for our turn to be vaccinated. Once we get our turn, the medical professional verified our identities first by asking about our names and dates of birth. They then informed us of which vaccine we are taking as well as the side effects we can expect from it. Moreover, they also told us what we can do to alleviate the side effects and what we are not allowed to do after getting vaccinated. They also informed us of when to get our 2nd dose, tellig us to expect a message or calls from officials informing us again. For us, we are expected to receive our 2nd dose on July 13.

After getting vaccinated, we had to go to another registration. They verified our identity again and listed us in the masterlist along with the time when we received our 1st dose.

Then we were asked to stay in the observation place.

Observation

After getting vaccinated, we moved to the observation phase. We had to present our vaccination ID card to medical professionals, and they inform us what we are going to do in the observation phase. They also gave us a pamphlet of the side effects we can expect as well as how to contact for help.

In the observation phase, there are also some tarpaulins where you can take a photoshoot to post on social media to inform your friends that you are vaccinated.

We are asked to stay in the observation area for 15-30 minutes before we were allowed to go home.

Side effects

So one of the expected side effects is the ache in the vaccination site. This is the only side effects that I have experienced since getting the vaccine.

I have been resting more too because I cannot move my left arm that much. I also feel better a lot better as I was resting.

Of course, everyone reacts to vaccines differently but it is assured that they are all temporary.

I think I would rather experience the side effects of the vaccine than the virus itself.

My thoughts

The whole process took about 2 hours. I think that is already fast as we got there past lunch, which means that there is already a queue of people.

The whole process is smooth and we did not encounter any challenges. The only real challenge is the waiting game and the heat.

For everyone still having doubts about the vaccines, all available vaccines to us passed various international standards so they are safe to use.

If you are having doubts because you heard that you can still get infected even if you are vaccinated, they are right. However, that is only a given as your body is still learning how to fight the virus. Also, once we reached the herd immunity, we can say goodbye to our masks.

Hopefully, we can get herd immunity before Christmas season arrives. I knoe that I am not the only one who missed hanging out with family and friends or just walking witbout feeling masks on our faces.

You can find more of my articles by clicking this link:  https://read.cash/@ZehraSky/week-1-june-2021-articles-summary-6e15cf71

Feel free to browse through it, you might find something that is to your taste.

Thank you for reading and supporting me, everyone!