First it was the race to find the vaccine. Cartoonist Shadi Ghanim’s take on the race to find a vaccine for Covid-19:
In India, Serum Institute won the race closely followed by Bharat Biotech leaving five other companies behind but, still in the reckoning.
Indian vaccines started going out to various countries who needed it fast, gaining considerable goodwill.
In the meanwhile, Indian citizens over the age of sixty years and 45+ with comorbidities started receiving the vaccine driven by variuos state governments.
Now, the drama started. The social media took over to announce being vaccinated and reports of either no or some side effects. A streamlined online registration process was set up and as I write this, seems to be working very efficiently. I registered last week for being vaccinated at a particular hospital where my GP wanted me to go to, and I have been asked to report on March 30, 2021 to get vaccinated. Others who have already got vaccinated are goading me to just walk in into any nearby hospital and get it done but, I have decided to wait till my appointment comes up.
In the meanwhile, social media has become super active with reports of side effects, efficacy, what can one expect post vaccination etc and the drama continues. From all these, one gathers that despite the vaccination one has to follow the pre vaccination protocols for some more time for the vaccine to take proper effect and this has caused many groans and protests.
I enjoy being on the sidelines and observing the drama.
This is my contribution to this week’s Friday 8 On 1 blog post topic. The other seven bloggers who write on the same topic every Friday are Maria. Sanjana, Padmum, Raju, Shackman , Srinivas and Conrad. This week’s topic was suggested by Maria. Please do go over to their respective blogs to see what they have to say on the topic.
It all sounds very similar to how things went here. As for comorbidities, I covered several bases. Our experience with side effects is that they vary widely by the individual
shackman recently posted..Vaccination Drama
We have just been advised that people over will be eligible to get vaccinated from the first of April and that should be very interesting to watch.
I wish you well on your path. You and all your Indian brethren. I think your country has served humanity well!
Conrad recently posted..The Vaccination Drama
Thank you Conrad. I really appreciate those thoughts.
Much discussion here in the UK over the delay in getting vaccines from the Serum Institute, which has slowed down the vaccine roll-out. I gather (a) some vaccines are being diverted for use in India as infection rates there have suddenly taken off and (b) there are problems with the manufacturing supply chain – shortage of vaccine ingredients, glass phials etc. Can you shed any more light on this?
Sorry Nick I am not clued in on this but, I am fairly certain that no vaccine from the UK was diverted to India. If anything, vaccine from here instead of being used for the locals, has been sent overseas all over the world.
We share the same date for the first shot Ramana. Yahoo…….
XO
WWW
Hooray!
The vaccine rollout in NZ is underway but with a different stance to other countries. Border workers, then there family and close contacts. Then it wends down through population…have no idea when I’m scheduled. In the meantime I follow the current rules as currently we are community free of the virus….
Take care everyone, vaccinated or not. We can do this…
New Zealand shows the way to all other countries Catherine. It is a country’s leadership that needs to be emulated all over the world.
As I am over 80 and living in the UK, I have just had the second jab of the Pfizer-COVID-19 vaccine. My local health centre is fantastic with their ‘drive-thru’ medical staff and volunteers.
Just one thing I’m not too happy about…. After the first shot I did not have any side-effects. This time I looked up the list and found that I ticked nearly every box ! .. 🙁
However, I’m pleased to say the side-effects seem to be quickly fading.
Big John recently posted..Do people really care ?
Others from the UK have also said that their experience with the vaccination process has been good and so far at least, none has had any side effects from the first jab. I am surprised at the reaction you seem to have had with the second one. Your comments here have inspired me to put up blog posts on both my experiences due shortly. Incidentally, the gap between the first and the second which was four to six weeks till last week has now been changed for us to eight weeks to achieve better effectiveness.