First Dose Done

 That's right. I've had my first dose of covid-19 vaccine. Yay! I'm quite pleased about it so obviously I am very pro-vaccines and pro-vaccine education. I wholeheartedly believe everyone should get vaccinated, voluntarily, and as soon as it is available for them. 

I got the Pfizer vaccine. I'm eligible, here in Australia, even though I am under 40 because I have Type 1 Diabetes. Add on to that my history with clotting and my clotting gene mutation and it definitely rules out AstraZeneca. I would have applied for the AstraZeneca if it wasn't for all my clotting issues and even went to my GP as soon as it was available, but I'll probably post about the whys another time. 

For those Sydney-siders waiting to get their first dose done I though I'd share my experience with you. 

I won't get into the applying process as we're all experiencing a fun time with that. I booked my appointments and had a two month wait for the hub at Sydney Olympic Park.

The vaccination process itself was quite smooth. When I went, unfortunately, they had a big ol' technical glitch. Their system crashed. It was so unfortunate given Wednesday was so cold! It meant they were running 1.5 - 2 hours behind. My appointment was 5:15pm and they were still at 3:45pm when I showed up. Early. Of course. Before 5pm.

It's something I could complain about, for sure, but what's the point? It's not like the crash was done on purpose and the staff there did the best they could. Apart from the cold, it was nice being out of the house for awhile, being able to see a whole bunch of different faces, all of which were socially distancing. It was an adventure.

Ok, so get the whole system crash out of the way, unfortunate, but the rest of it was smooth AF. I was impressed. They had three appointment lines going at all times with plenty of staff walking around making sure we were wearing our masks, socially distancing, and updating us on what was happening. 

By the time 5:15pm got to line up, 5pm was already lined up and ready, and then 5:30pm (my SO's appointment time) got called to line up. The movement went pretty quickly once my time got called up. Just beforehand staff came along and gave us all a spritz of hand sanitiser and new masks. Then we basically followed each other, in a socially distanced single file, towards the hub, up until check-in. Once checked-in we got assigned a pod number and given a slip of paper with our QR codes and numbers on them.

It kind of reminded me of when you go to the RTA/NSW Services and get assigned a number, except better. Seriously. There were people very clearly standing at intervals to direct everyone, we got pointed towards our seats, the screens with numbers being called was quite visible and directly in front of the seating area marked as waiting. 

That's the other thing, everything was clearly marked. From the carpark with signs pointing the way, stickers in the line so you knew where to stand, signs announcing appointment times and check-in, the waiting area, stations, and observation area as well making them easy to find. And if you couldn't find something just by visual cues there was definitely plenty of people there to help you find your way. There was no chance of confusion. This is what my anxiety likes. Structure.

Inside was set up quite nicely. There were plants, relaxing music, space, plenty of seating, calming colours... Yeah whoever organised the calming qualities of the whole operation did an excellent job.

So after I waited for a bit, my number got called up, and I went to my assigned station. I had to answer some questions, show my ID, proof of illness, give some information and then I got my first shot at 8:22pm.

From there I went to the observation area and was placed right at the front. My SO got her shot at 8:23pm, in another pod, and she has one major allergy. I have a whole list. All up, from front door to leaving, it would have been 45-50 minutes for me simply because my observation time was 30 minutes. My SO went in a few minutes after me and was out when I was halfway through my observation. It took her roughly 20-30 minutes from the front door to leaving.

We both experienced a sore arm that night and the following day, but nothing more than what you expect from a flu shot going into your muscle. I've actually had worse dead arms from flu shots. Friday, two days after the experience, I feel fine. I'll post again about my second shot because I've heard the second is the one where you feeeeeel it. We'll see.

✌