One step closer to returning our lives back to Pre-COVID-19

[KarenVChin]

I want to share my coronavirus story. No, I don’t have or have had COVID-19. Nor none of my family or my extended family has tested positive for COVID either. However, like many of us, we have not seen extended family members for almost a year or more, especially are older ones like parents or grandparents.

My story is about not seeing my mom as often as I would because of the Pandemic. Since last March, I can count the number of times I have seen her in person, usually alone, because we did not want to take any chances with her health.

As a family, we have lost a year of memories where my twins have not hugged or kissed their grandma. When they have seen her, they are wearing masks and are 6 feet (2 meters) away from her. There is no touching. The sad part, like for many families, this is the new normal for my twins. Their lives are like this when it comes to being with people (or extended family) who are not part of their immediate bubble or pod (me, my hubby, or them).

Initially, getting the COVID vaccination was not something my mom was going to do. She wanted to wait for a while to see how harmful the side effects would be. But something changed her mind. She kept hearing how many of her friends and her sisters were making vaccination appointments. I guess peer pressure made my mom want to get the vaccine?

Mom searched Google Maps early this month for a local medical clinic recommended by her friend who recently went to get her COVID vaccination there.

Here in the U.S., the COVID vaccine is free. The issue is meeting at least one of these requirements:

• 65 or older
• Healthcare workers
• Opening up to now include in California: Essential Workers in Food/Agriculture, Educators/Childcare Providers, and Emergency Services Personnel

There are the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines if you can get one. However, there are not enough vaccines to meet demand. The only way to get one is by appointment only.

Mom waited 45 minutes on the phone to make her appointment. She was able to get one one-week later at 1 pm. We were both shocked that she could get it quickly because finding a facility with the COVID vaccine is not as easy as one would think here in the San Francisco Bay Area. There is a limited supply. Waiting on the phone can be for hours, or booking online via health care providers or selected pharmacies is difficult. It’s like winning the lottery if you can get an appointment. People are willing to drive a long way for their appointments. Read here.

To vaccinate as many eligible people as possible, in the county where my mom lives, she could try to make an appointment to go to one of two mega public sites: Oakland Alameda Coliseum or Alameda County Fairgrounds. These two are drive-thrus that can handle thousands of cars per day.

Watch the East Bay news story at the Oakland Coliseum.

With what Mom found through Google Maps, Bay Area Community Health, I drove her 30 miles (48 km) to her 1 pm drive-thru appointment. We never left my car.

We got there 10 minutes before 1 pm and sat in my car.

Mom was asked to provide her Driver’s License Card (Official ID card) and her Health Insurance Card (It’s not mandatory) as I was filling out the forms.

The health care worker who gave my mom her shot was quick! She made us laugh to make us feel comfortable (“Am I going to be famous?” As I took her photo, she gave mom her 1st dose of the Moderna vaccine for posterity). Mom felt no pain from the needle, experiencing no side effects afterward either.

Mom received a copy of what to expect after receiving her COVID vaccine.

In total, including waiting 15 minutes after Mom getting her COVID vaccination, we were there 50 minutes.

Mom automatically has her next appointment one month at the same time. She is finally one step closer to being able to spend time in-person with her grandchildren.

Local Guides, if you have received your COVID-19 vaccine shot, please share your experience below or tag me so I can read your story here on Connect. How is it done in your city?

Have you miss not seeing your parents or grandparents in person because of the Pandemic? How long has it been since you have seen in person loved ones?

San Francisco Bay Area Local Guides, If you live in Alameda or Santa Clara Counties, please read myBay Area Community Health review if you are looking to make a COVID vaccination appointment.

Cheers,

Karen

[ErmesT]

I’m happy that your mom managed to get vaccinated, @KarenVChin , and this post is very interesting, because it tells us that getting vaccinated is possible, even if the current availability of vaccines here in Italy is much lower than the promised one.

I obviously don’t have a story to share. Having been a Covid patient, I will probably be one of the last to be vaccinated, as I should have antibodies for a few months.

However, in November I was called directly from the public health department to be vaccinated against the flu. The aim was to avoid that the flu could weaken our body, being able to better fight the CoronaVirus

The long line of people lined up to receive the vaccine was impressive

However, everything was very well organized, and in 30 minutes I was able to receive the injection

The structures are there, and they are very organized, so I hope that the vaccines arrive, so that we can give a little more tranquility to our life.

[KarenVChin]

Here in the U.S. the medical experts were saying how important it is to get the annual flu shot @ErmesT during last Fall, especially Dr Fauci. Not that it will prevent you from getting coronavirus, but to keep your body strong and healthy to not get sick during the winter, which if you tested positive for COVID-19 could have an affect on your health and make you have sicker.

Funny thing, with everyone wearing masks, socially distancing, washing their hands more, getting temperature checks and more people than ever getting their annual flu vaccinations, less people got the flu or common cold in my area.

My kids, knock on wood, so far have not had their annual cold yet. Again because of all of the sanitary precautions I mentioned above they have to do in order to go to school.

My kids get their annual flu shots too. This makes a huge difference. They have never gotten really sick other than having sniffles, which is unusual for kids who attend school, nor my hubby and I because of them. We get the flu shot every year too.

Cheers,

Karen

[vvaibhav655]

Hi @KarenVChin Be Safe and enjoy happy life with mother.

[LaloPadilla]

That’s amazing @KarenVChin , in just a month your mom can have some great time with his grandchildren!!! Thanks for sharing her experience.

In México vaccination process is being slow and struggling with logistics, in some places people have to wait for hours and finally being told that they have run out of vaccines because of people without appointments have been vaccinated before them.

I miss my grandma so much I haven’t seen her in almost a year and also I want to see again my first cousin, he was born in Dec 2019 he doesn´t know the outside world.

@Ameyali_Mx was one of the first mexicans to receive the vaccine here you can read Ameyali´s post : Covid-19 vaccine, a view from a Guiding Star

[davidhyno]

Hi @KarenVChin !

I’m glad this pandemic hasn’t affected any of your loved ones! As anticipated by @ErmesT here in Italy, vaccines are really starting to run out and the possibility of doing just one course of vaccinations without the second booster is being considered!

Take away a curiosity: you can choose the pharmaceutical company of the vaccines according to your preferences or is the administration of the vaccine random?

Bye,

David

[KarenVChin]

Thanks @vvaibhav655 – we are trying!

Cheers,

Karen

[KarenVChin]

Thanks @LaloPadilla for your kind words regarding my mom. Fortunately, here in the U.S., you have to make an appointment to be sure you get the COVID vaccine shot.

However, the wait to try to get the appointment is not always easy as what my mom experienced. Her older sister was on hold for 3 hours on the phone to try to get her appointment. She gave up and hung up. My cousin told her mom to stay on the phone no matter how long it takes to talk to a “live human being.” My aunt tried again and did get her first Moderna vaccine shot last week.

I can totally relate to what you wrote about not seeing family in the past year. My extended family is a large Chinese family. We could not go to my Aunt’s daughter’s (my cousin’s sister) wedding last September because only 10 people could attend in person. There have been two funerals in the last 4 months in my family (not coronavirus related) because of the “no more than 10 people can gather” rule by the State of California. And the funerals themselves had to wait because so many more people have died that the mortuaries have so many more funerals than last year.

I hope you get to hold your first cousin soon! Thanks for highlighting @Ameyali_Mx 's COViD-19 vaccination post. I will go and read her experience now.

Cheers,

Karen

[KarenVChin]

@davidhyno – there has been the same conversation about only receiving one dosage of either Pfizer or Moderna to reach more people faster. But the CDC is saying overall to give both dosages.

We don’t get a vaccine preference. It’s whatever the facility has received as their inventory supply. How the vaccines are being distributed is a combination of health care facilities, pharmacies, mega injection drive-thru sites, community health clinics, etc.

The good news is that Johnson & Johnson will mostly get FDA approval.for their COVID-19 vaccine. The cool thing about J&J is that their vaccine does not need a special freezer, can be stored in a “normal” freezer for 3 months, and you only need 1 dosage than Pfizer or Moderna.

Cheers,

Karen

[davidhyno]

Hi @KarenVChin !
This from Johnson & Johnson is excellent news, we hope that their vaccines arrive here in Italy (and in the rest of the world of course)!

Have a good day,
David

[DrShaunak]

@KarenVChin Very nice and elaborate article. Thanks for sharing.

As I said in my previous post recently I took first dose of Covishield vaccine and will take final dose after 3 weeks.

On the day of vaccination day I went to Apollo Gleneagles Hospital at around 11.45 AM. I was vaccinated at 12 PM by a lady nurse and I was told to wait for half an hour in observation room for any adverse effect detection. Finally I left Hospital and went to a nearby shopping mall for lunch.

I got SMS from Indian Government about my vaccination details, certificate and feedback form. Below are those screenshots.

[LuigiZ]

Hi @KarenVChin ,

very good news your mom received her vaccine shot and nice to see also the complete organization behind that. I hope that the campaign will proceed very fast everywhere so that we can slowly come back to our open life.

For me of course I didn’t get it yet, I see @ErmesT and @davidhyno already told you about Italy and although things are very slightly different by region the overall situation is pretty the same in the complete country. However it is not just a situation in Italy but in the complete Europe where the furniture is not enough, low and slow.

Thank you for sharing your story, we will get there .

[Ariful_Hasan_SLP]

On 11th of March 2021.
Me along with my father visited our Upazilla Health Complex, Mithapukur, Rangpur for the on going vaccination program.

At first we had to register through a government website : https://surokkha.gov.bd/

or App :

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codersbucket.surokkha_app

After a successful registration, we got a text message in our Mobile phone where the date was mentioned when my father will be vaccinated.

Everything was smooth & good except the random gathering of mass people.
The Hospital authority didn’t have enough volunteers to manage the crowd.

Moreover, Most of the gathered people were above 40 & Illiterate so the mess was predictable.

The front 2 booths

There were 3 booths in total.

One in the very front door was being served with one person.
He was monitoring the on spot registration process for the people who doesn’t know the online registration process.

Second Booth was just beside the first one.
It was being served by several volunteers who was checking the registered papers & sending those for the next process.

The vaccination booth

The last one was the Vaccination Booth.
It was serving by 2/3 three nurses. They were vaccinating 5 male & 5 female based rotation.

There was a special indoor booth for the females to be vaccinated by a female nurse.

The after vaccination rest room

There was also a rest room.
After vaccination male peoples were being suggested to take rest for half an hour.

2 things I loved of this vaccine center that,

• They weren’t vaccinating the people without masks. They were really strict with this.

Waiting room

• And they didn’t break the serial number of the waiting room people.

Overall, the experience was pretty good.

My father’s being vaccinated.

But unfortunately I couldn’t get the opportunity to be vaccinated yet cause I’m not over 40.

The poster’s showing a contact number to inform in case of emergency aftereffects of the vaccine.

I hope the beloved government will open the registration process for all of its citizens.

[Ivi_Ge]

HI @Ariful_Hasan_SLP ,

We know it’s exciting to receive your COVID-19 vaccination, however, in an effort to keep Connect organized as well as keep potentially sensitive to some images in a single place, we are merging all Connect posts about COVID-19 vaccinations into a single thread: One step closer to returning our lives back to Pre-COVID-19.

Thanks

[Dorado]

Hoy he recibido mi primera dosis de la vacuna de Astrazeneca contra el covid-19.

Estoy muy feliz y quería compartir este momento con todos los Guías Locales del mundo.

Es importante reconocer el gran esfuerzo de los laboratorios farmacéuticos desde que empezó esta pandemia, por lograr encontrar una vacuna que nos libre de padecer la enfermedad y los males que ocasiona este virus. Creo que en poco tiempo han logrado toda una proeza y con la vacuna están ayudando a mucha gente en el mundo entero.

Dedicar un buen porcentaje de nuestros impuestos al estudio científico está más que justificado, puesto que ahora más que nunca nos hemos dado cuenta que la salud, es lo más importante en nuestras vidas y la de nuestros familiares y amigos.

Os mando un fuerte abrazo desde Alicante (España )

[ErmesT]

Hi @Dorado

Congratulations, We are happy with you. However, in an effort to keep Connect organized as well as keep potentially sensitive to some images in a single place, we are merging all Connect posts about COVID-19 vaccinations into a single thread: One step closer to returning our lives back to Pre-COVID-19.

Thanks

[Dorado]

@ErmesT muchas gracias Ermest

[Jesi]

@Dorado muchas felicidades! Debe ser un gran alivio ya estar vacunado. Me alegra saber que ya tenemos a un Local Guide más, más protegido

Saludos desde Argentina!!

[Dorado]

@Jesi muchas graciassssss Jesi, aún queda la segunda dosis pero es un gran alivio tener la primera porque el cuerpo ya está creando anticuerpos contra el virus. Sea como sea es motivo de alegría y lo que me haría mucha ilusión es saber que todos estáis vacunados también, no hay felicidad a lo grande si no es una felicidad compartida

[Dorado]

@Ivi_Ge agradezco la corrección, cuando hice la publicación no vi este tema para añadir mi historia en el hilo de conversación, que gran labor la vuestra …muchas gracias