Got the first of two jabs, but fewer people than I anticipated.

A very vague manifestation of irony is when the rival university I valiantly competed against for the honor of my alma mater becomes the savior in a challenging time. The University of V.N. Karazina is one of the most popular in Eastern Europe as well as receives the highest number of foreign students in the country.

The first time I visited the university was when I snuck in with a group of visitors heading to the museum on the university premises. Back then I didn't know that you didn't need a special entry permit as my alma mater did. But hey, it made for an interesting experience. Especially when the excursion leader didn't recognize me but let me stay anyway.

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As medical workers, we were among the first-in-line to receive the vaccines. Each hospital and polyclinic was given a waiver that was to be designated if the staff wanted to be vaccinated and how many shots would be needed to be distributed.

But since the waivers came in an incredibly early stage of the vaccination program, there was a lot of skepticism. For one, my colleagues and I were not very happy about the vaccine that we would be getting. We wanted something with higher efficacy and there was always that thing about trusting the vaccine itself.

Ever since signing that waiver as "uninterested until desired conditions are met" we have been waiting for the second waiver. The wait has become too long for me now. I am no longer happy to see patients without being vaccinated myself. As the cases of "vaccinate or stay out" rules are increasing in multiple countries, I am also not eager to be locked inside borders for any longer.

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The day before yesterday one of my patients told me that she had a very rough time communicating with foreigners. It didn't have anything to do with her illness, she just likes talking...a lot. Long story short, she told me the Karazin University has opened a vaccination stall in one of their main halls. It had an online registration portal and otherwise first-come-first-serve basis.

This was really exciting for me because there is nothing better than ending years-long rivalry by letting your rival become a savior, right? Ah, the amount of nerdy rivalry my medico colleagues and I had with the medicos from the Karazin University. Such great memories to relive.

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I was a little nervous that I would be sent back without a vaccine since I am already on a waiting list of medical workers. But when I got to the hall I was left a tad surprised. There was a very disappointing queue outside. I was expecting a long queue of impatient people with a lot of chaos. But there was only the opposite.

I was there at around just past noon. The queue was only 10-15 people long and all of them very calm. The only takeaway I had was that there were more foreigners than locals. Among the foreigners all except for 2 were students.

I am yet to understand why more people weren't queuing up. It could be that one group of people are professionals who are already signed up for vaccines and are waiting on them. The other group of people simply don't know that this vaccination center is open. Or simply, people aren't very eager to get vaccinated.

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I got to the desk and started filling the form out to get to my place in the queue. Very basic stuff, almost as if to make things less complicated to come and get a vaccine. In my previous clinic in the UAE, we did require a negative PCR result to get the vaccine but here they didn't even ask for that.

Even in the UAE, I had postponed getting the shot. I was a bit too involved in the politics and stats and wanted to be sure I was getting the best vaccine possible. Only after I had quit the clinic in the UAE, getting vaccinated was mandated by law there. By then, I was already on my way to a new polyclinic in Ukraine.

Now that I have a lot of data to reflect on, I know for sure what I want to get. I am obviously going for the Pfizer and BioNTech shot. I was given another option, but I didn't even bother paying it any attention.

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Inside the hall were two tables. One is where you give your form and get a preliminary check (if required). Once that is done you wait till everything is registered and then head to get yourself jabbed.

One thing I will never get over is how until now everything is recorded on paper. Call it budget cuts or outdated, I like to believe that all this is still on paper because paper cannot be hacked and manipulated. Haha. If it is any relief, everything is later fed into an electronic system, but the hard copies are always stored securely.

When I first came to Ukraine and joined the polyclinic I found all this paperwork extremely tedious and annoying compared to how computerized everything was in the UAE in my previous clinic. It took me some time to get used to the paperwork here but I have grown to appreciate it.

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Here is a protip: always keep an eye on the workstation. Unless you are very confident about how things are going, never listen to the "look the other way and it won't hurt as much" when getting a jab. I am not calling anyone out, I am just being thorough with this protip.

May it be a blood sample being taken or getting a vaccine shot, always keep an eye on what is happening. Some nurses are really thorough and will walk you through each step from opening a sealed pack of syringes to drawing whatever it is, and some won't.

The only way to make sure you are safe is to monitor everything. You want to make sure that you are getting a brand new syringe and needle, you want to make sure your skin is cleaned, you want to make sure the right item is being drawn into the syringe and then plunged into you.

There have been a few cases around the world where either needle are being reused or people are not being injected at all. Nothing beats taking personal responsibility for not turning into a victim, right?
Either way I doubt such malpractices will ever occur here in Ukraine. Apparently, there is no rush in getting the vaccine and so we will have enough to give around.

Second dose after 9 days. Ciao!



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