Opinion: Marie and I have taken step one and had the first of two vaccination shots against the nasty Covid-19. And it was not a big deal.
Recently, I had cause to be in block 2 of Victoria Ave in mid-morning and was surprised to see the queue for vaccinations at Te Rito, the former Warehouse Stationery premises. It snaked from the door to a long way up the street, made longer by social distancing requirements. As all those people would have made vaccination appointments, few would have been seen at their allotted time, obviously.
So last Wednesday, with appointment times of 11am and 11.10am respectively, Marie and I took our books with us, only to find, when we arrived, there was no queue at all! Darn. I really wanted to finish that book. We donned our masks and entered the building.
On the ramp at the entrance to Te Rito we were stopped by a masked woman who asked us the usual questions about any possible Covid contact and our general health, after which she pointed to the next stop, a couple of desks where we would give our names and start the process.
From there we were directed to a seating area — with chairs appropriately spaced — where we sat, waiting to be called into a vaccination booth. The wait was minimal and before long we were in a booth with two women, one keeping records and the other administering the jab. They made sure we were fully informed before shoulders were bared and needles inserted. Pretty painless, really. We were given a card each, on which was recorded the vaccination batch number and date administered.
That was not the end of it. An observation time of 15 minutes was next, where we sat and hoped we would experience no adverse reaction to the dose. And my book was in the car.
After a quarter of an hour we were approached by a designated observer who asked a few questions, then gave us the go-ahead to leave, which we did, by the side door into the car park.