1st COVID Vaccination

Today I walked just over a mile from my house to a medical centre, which isn't the one where I'm registered.

No matter, it was easy to find, and a well spaced out queue of people outside the rear entrance made it pretty obvious where to go. After 10 minutes or so the queue advanced enough for me to do the self registry on the terminal in the porch. 

Another few minutes wait and a friendly young lady with a clipboard invited me to step inside and see the receptionist. The receptionist took my name and date of birth and looked me up on some kind of screen. After a 'oh yes' she directed me to stand at the corner of the red lines. There were red lines taped to the floor, and the lady behind me in the queue was directed to follow the yellow lines. Clever.

I followed the red lines down a short corridor and then stood on the threshold with a couple of little curtained off areas to the right and an office to the left. A man and a woman occupied the curtained areas, while a young lady flitted between the office and the booths. The lady (a nurse or a doctor) asked her for some more doses - she disappeared but I didn't see her come back with any.

That's because a man stood up and walked out rolling his sleeve down, and a nice looking man with grey hair invited me to come over. He introduced himself as Nick, one of the doctors in the practice. He asked me a few routine questions about my state of health and tapped in the answers on device on his desk. Then he asked me which arm I wanted it in (left), I took off my sweater and rolled up my sleeve. There was a moment of discomfort (pain is too strong a word) and that was that. 

He handed me a card that proved I'd had the jab, and an information leaflet. Then I walked home in the blustery wind and sunshine feeling a mixture of relief and happiness. There is talk of having more or less the whole country vaccinated by June. Judging from the informal efficiency of the procedure I've described above, that might well be achieved. Things may be back to normal in the country by August/September. What a wonderful prospect!

Lockdown in winter

 
We're still in a national lockdown and the terms are harsh.

Unless you must travel for work, you're not allowed to go more than 7 miles from where you live, and are allowed outside for exercise only. No meeting people except in a few cases, no going out and only essential shops and services are open. 

January and February are always the toughest months of the year for me. Christmas is long gone, the days are short, the weather cold and/or rainy. Outside the countryside is dead and the paths muddy and slippery.

At least the vaccination program seems to be succeeding - Britain has managed to inoculate about 10 million people, including my father (84) and mother (82) who were among the very first people to get vaccinated before and after Christmas. There's talk of myself and M, the over 50s, getting vaccinated between now and May. 

The one big worry is the so-called South African variant of the disease. This one seems resistant to the current vaccines, although the scientists are confident that they can tweak existing vaccines and make them effective against that one as well. 

Let's hope they're right. This pandemic thing is getting very tiresome.