Two weeks have passed and I have finally received my second dose of vaccine last weekend. I have expected there will be more people on the schedule given because all of us vaccinated last November 13 were cramped into the afternoon schedule since the morning schedule was allotted to the postponed 2nd dose of others.
Arriving at the vaccination area, I was immediately greeted by the long line of people at the lobby. Good thing it was the soldiers administering and maintaining the orderliness of people that day. People seemed to be more compliant. However, social distancing at the line was barely observed though! Even one old lady at my back kept talking. We waited and stood for an hour before being able to get inside the gymnasium.
Ah, bleachers! We meet again! So while I made myself comfortable on the bleachers (because I know I will be sitting there for who knows how many hours), one of the soldiers came and distributed the forms we have to fill out. After handing out to two rows he sighed and told he was exhausted. He's probably assigned even from the morning schedule, perhaps? So he asked favor for someone to just pass the other forms to the rows at the back.. And that person was me. Well, glad to help, sir! He counted the forms for each row and handed them to me which I passed to the person behind me. I guess he handed me out forms at least four times.
As I was filling out 4-page form, I noticed the man beside me still not beginning writing. He was just skimming through the form and fumbling on his phone. I had a strong sense that he didn't bring a pen so I quickly fill out mine just in case he would ask to lend him my pen. And just as I thought, right after I flipped the last page of my form, he asked if he could borrow my pen. I handed it to him without talking nor looking at him. I'm awkward but that doesn't stop me from being kind! Lol.
After filling out the form, I kept myself busy by browsing on my phone. When my neck got tired from looking down on my phone, I took my time to look around and observed the process. I noticed that they have already omitted the encoding of information and the short lecture before getting the jab which were done during the vaccination of first dose. We only have to go through blood pressure test and screening before we wait in line again for the vaccine itself.
Cool! I did have a problem though. I was starting to feel the need to go to the comfort room which I am avoiding as much as possible because.. 1.) I might miss my line. 2.) Public toilets are not clean. 3.) I'm just too shy to excuse myself.
And so my game plan was to hold it until I get the jab and run out of the gymnasium and head back home as fast as I could. Home is quite near the gymnasium so it's doable! However, as if destiny was teasing me, the nurses and doctors had their snack break for a couple of minutes while we were left waiting on the bleachers.
Luckily, it was already our turn to go down when they resumed the vaccination process. When we got down and sat (again), we were asked to write our vaccination id number wherein the guy beside me earlier asked to borrow my pen again. After that, we were called for the blood pressure test. My row stood and everyone lined up to one nurse, except for me. I saw a lot of vacant tables with nurses waiting and I think my feet was possessed by my bladder that it took me to the vacant tables.
I don't know if what I did was right, because during my first dose, you can just go to any table for the test. Maybe my row mates were just too obedient? Lol. But thank goodness, one of the nurses noticed me and called me to their table. When I got near, he said, "You can go first." 😂 He probably knew I was in a hurry. Haha. When I stood to go to the screening area, I caught a glance of of row mates still waiting in line for the blood pressure test.
So I immediately took a seat and went through the screening where they asked about what I felt after having the first dose and whether I have colds, cough, etc. The doctor gave me a green sticker after which I attached to my shirt.
Then I made my way up to the waiting area for getting the jab. Hello again, bleachers! I was again teased by destiny as it was colder on the area I was sitting at. The air conditioner on that part was on blast. After almost an hour, our row was called to go down to get our jab. Our forms were collected and we waited to be called to line up for the vaccine. Ah, finally we are here!
As the staff was checking our forms, she called out one and asked him to have his screening done. I feel bad for that guy, he has to go back and line up again. When it was already my turn, the vaccinator asked where I'm from and when I told her, she said that people from where I live were beautiful. We all just laughed at what she said though I was already mentally screaming to hurry up. When she was done injecting the vaccine, I went to the staff beside her and got my form and vaccination card back, then surrendered the form to the guys opposite to them and walked to the final blood pressure test.
After my blood pressure was taken, I got up and walked as fast as I could out of the area, took a tricycle and went home.
And that was my detailed experience of getting my second dose vaccine. It's the third day today as of writing this post and so far the only side effect was pain on the area of injection. However, a day after getting the vaccine, I felt bad especially on the abdomen because I drank a laxative tea. 😂 I thought I would get a fever but I'm glad it didn't push through after taking a long rest.
Congrats to me for being fully vaccinated. But that doesn't mean I can now go anywhere I want. The vaccine is just an added protection, it only lessens the severe effects of the virus in case you caught one. It is still very important to practice precautions to avoid getting infected.
