Boosted

[davidgillon]

I had my Covid booster booked for 7:25PM this evening, so popped out of the house at 7PM, to find my neighbour had parked on my drive, blocking me in.

Cue panic.

So I had to go bang on his door, fortunately he was in, and apologetic - he'd moved his van to let his wife get her car out and not moved it back.

And because it's only a five minute drive to my GP's surgery I was still there at 7:11PM and had to sit around in the car for five minutes.

I rolled in and the process was much the same as before*, though if you'd had AZ first two times you were getting Pfizer this time for the optimal combination. And there was the added bonus that I got asked if I wanted the flu jab as well. Which was weird as when I spoke to the surgery about the flu jab on Monday and asked if I could have it with my booster they offered me a slot on Saturday morning instead. Get it done now, or make an extra journey on Saturday? Tough call, not.

There was one slight misunderstanding with the volunteer  who was convinced that if I said I'm 58 that meant she should tick the 'over 65' box on her form. We eventually worked out that every time I said 58, she heard 68. I really don't think I look remotely 68! Not even with a mask on!

And so I got both jabs done at once by a lovely Irish nurse, and both in the same arm, which is probably going to add up to one very sore arm in the morning. I was pretty much the last patient of their day, so I was chatting with her and one or two of the other staff  while I waited the 15 minutes you're supposed to wait. I asked how many patients they get through in a day, and she said on a 12 hour shift like today it would probably be around a thousand people, they did 1100 on one last week, and she'd probably have done about 100 people herself. Which considering it's not one of the humongous walk-in clinics isn't bad.

They were also pleased that the walk-in who'd turned up at the same time as me (even though it's more a booked clinic than a walk-in one) meant they'd used up the last dose in the vial and absolutely nothing was going to waste.

* Despite the NHS email confirming my booking insisting that you have to take your booking reference number along I was never asked for it. Colour me unsurprized.

Comments

[cosmolinguist]

Huh, we've all needed our booking numbers (I've gone along for myself, my housemate and my employer now).

[davidgillon]

All they wanted from me was name and date of birth, same as with the first two rounds. Which if nothing else is proof they don't actually need the booking numbers. (And of course walk-ins don't have one to start with).

[cosmolinguist]

Whereas my boyfriend, who got invited to make an appointment before the general public could because of a health condition he has, was grilled with questions and made to reveal private health information that didn't actually help them determine why he was there. As if he could've made an appointment without being eligible at that point.

But the vaccine response is so local and will vary so far from one place to another.

[davidgillon]

Ugh, they say to bring the referral letter in that scenario, and they really shouldn't need any more than that.

[sovay]

And so I got both jabs done at once by a lovely Irish nurse, and both in the same arm, which is probably going to add up to one very sore arm in the morning.

Hooray! Put ice on everything?

[davidgillon]

Put ice on everything?

My right arm is definitely not happy this morning. But it's ignorable if I don't move it much - lifting it out from my side seems to be the main issue. Which gives me a good excuse not to do anything about the 6 feet long and pretty hefty branch brought down into my garden by Storm Barra overnight. That can wait until at least tomorrow.

Other than that I had a touch of a headache for the first couple of hours afterwards, and that seems to be it. Which works fine for me.

[sovay]

Other than that I had a touch of a headache for the first couple of hours afterwards, and that seems to be it. Which works fine for me.

Great.

*hugs, carefully avoiding arm*

[davidgillon]

Hugs are always welcome :)

It's now aching (very mildly) on the inside of my arm opposite the injection site. This is plain weird!

ETA: I'm reminded this is where the lymph glands are. I'm certainly feeling lymp.