My vaccine experience

I got my first vaccination last month at a mass vaccination site and would like to share my experience. The process was straightforward. When I reached the centre, I handed them the documents that I had filled out in advance and as there were no issues, I was guided to the waiting area. Everyone got a small card with a number and should wait until their number was called.

I didn’t have to wait long and was soon guided to the vaccination area. What I found a little unfortunate is that the number calling was in Japanese only so it would have been difficult for someone without knowledge of Japanese to understand when their number was called.

The vaccination area was separated into several small rooms where a doctor would go through the papers about your current health condition that you filled out to check whether there are any issues. Then I got the vaccine and was guided to a desk where I would receive my papers for the second shot and then to a waiting area where I would wait for 15 minutes to see whether there were any immediate adverse reactions.

As I was fine, I left after 15 minutes. The waiting time included the whole process took about 30 minutes. I felt normal for the next few hours but after 2 or 3 hours I started to feel a pain in the arm that received the vaccine.

It was annoying but bearable without any pain medication. I also had a slightly higher temperature in the evening, but it was back to normal the next day. The pain was still present on the second day. It was a little inconvenient when typing or holding things with that arm but normal everyday activities were possible and I worked normally on that day.

As for the second dose my appointment got cancelled due to the faulty Moderna vaccine doses that were found recently. I only found out about the cancellation shortly before I was about to go to the vaccination site. 

I found this rather inconvenient as I had adjusted my schedule according to the appointment. I now have a new appointment but the vaccination site just decided on a date without any consideration as to whether that date works for me nor did they offer a possibility to change the date.

Personally, this seems rather unprofessional. I understand that the cancellation was required and that the appointment had to be rescheduled but usually, you offer several dates to choose from when you reschedule an appointment, don't you?