Friday, December 25, 2020

Covid-19 vaccine (2)

As opposed to the autumnal weather of yesterday, when the outside temperature reached a high of 11°C, today is warm and sunny, 20°C. Great weather for a walk.

I was pottering around this morning at home when my wife announced that someone had posted on one of the kibbutz Whatsapp groups that the vaccination centre in the local town was empty and waiting for customers. Within a few minutes we were in the car, heading for the town.

As announced, the 'centre' (really a large room with partitions) was empty of people being vaccinated, so swiftly we had our personal data noted, answered the standard questions about feeling well, etc, received warnings about possible side effects then had the vaccination. Despite the size of the syringe and the needle, the actual penetration of the skin and insertion into the shoulder muscle was barely felt.

After waiting 15 minutes outside of the room in order to ensure that there were no immediate side effects, it was back home ... and to a great feeling of relief.

I thought that booking an appointment for Sunday evening would put us at the vanguard of the people being vaccinated, but this morning I spoke to a few people on the kibbutz, all older than me, and they had all been vaccinated; I was slightly miffed. On the other hand, someone at work who is older than me but lives in a town in the north of Israel received an appointment for the middle of January.

According to the local news, Israel is first place in the world with regard to the number of people vaccinated per 100 residents. It's amusing to note that a week ago people were worried about the vaccine and were vacillating as whether to have it; now everybody is rushing to be vaccinated!

We receive a second dose in a month's time, and the health authorities reckon that by March they will be able to remove many of the restrictions in place. Let's hope that this is so.

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