My Vaccination Journey.

As I'm typing up this post on 3rd of August 2021, there are 17,105 new recorded cases today.

Close encounters with the virus

Since the world was taken over by Covid-19, my family, my relatives, the people around me and I have been very fortunate to not get infected with the virus. (touch wood) However, I had a few close calls with the possibility of getting the virus. For the few times I could go to my company's office in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, I had a two scares and had to get tested once.

I did the PCR test and it was unpleasant experience to say the least. However, knowing that I am healthy and not a danger to my family was worth the few seconds of feeling something getting stuck in my nose.

Since then I haven't really stepped out of the house a lot. I could get sunlight but I usually only get it during the weekends. My family made it a point to avoid getting out unless it's absolutely necessary.

Getting vaccinated

When the government started running vaccination programs, I would say most Malaysians are onboard in getting their vaccinations. Since I was a healthy young adult, I was expected to get my shots after everyone else, and I was okay with that.

I didn't have any preference for what kind of vaccine I could get. For me, as long as I'm getting the jabs, I'm fine.

However, my vaccination journey hasn't been as smooth sailing as I liked.

My first opportunity to get vaccinated was given to my company through the Selgate vaccination program. When they were offering to the employees in May, we were expected to receive the jab by the end of July.

I thought, great! If I could get my first jab by the end of July, sure. By that time, I was expected to get my first appointment faster than the rest of my family members.

However, while waiting for any news of my appointment, the government began offering limited slots for the Astra Zeneca program. Naturally, everyone was eager to get into the program. I initially wasn't interested, but with the persuasion of my mother and with the approval of my HR, I thought heck, why not? If I could get an early appointment, why the heck not?

When the registration period of the Astra Zeneca program began, it was like the whole population KL and Selangor were trying their luck to secure a spot. Many described it as similar as buying concert tickets of a popular band. I agree.

The website didn't go down due to the overwhelming responses, but it was slow and sometimes unresponsive. I spammed any available dates I could get in the hour registration was open. After the registration period, I couldn't secure an appointment.

Or so I thought.

That night at 12AM, I checked the mySejahteraApp and was surprised to see that I have an appointment on the end of July. I was delighted and informed my family, my manager and my HR in the morning that they could cancel my slot for the Selgate program. All was left to do was wait for my appointment date to arrive.

Or so I thought.

I know I should have checked my app everyday, but I didn't. And when I finally had the thought to check my appointment, it was gone. I was devastated. I was also dumb enough to not take a screenshot of my July appointment, although I'm not sure how that would have helped.

I then went to The Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) website following my manager's advice, and was shocked to find the date of my appointment date was on 25th June! I reached out to the help desk in the app, but nothing but an automated email responded to me.

A second chance?

I thought it was over for me, and I had to wait like a normal person for their appointment to show up on the app. My parents got their first shot around that time, and my mother was communicating with my relatives (and their connections) to secure an appointment for my brother.

But then my manager asked me to speak to company colleague that had to give up his slot from the Selgate program, because he already received his first shot and couldn't inform our HR due to miscommunication. She suggested that I could take his slot so he didn't have to compensate them. So I thought, alright!

But of course, things didn't go as planned.

I spoke to the fellow colleague and he spoke to our HR, hoping that I could replace him instead. However, there was a lot of waiting and uncertainty, and I received almost no news from both parties. I later was informed by my manager that she secured her first appointment through the Selgate program.

So, if I had not been greedy and registered for the Astra Zeneca program, I could have gotten my vaccine by July! Good job, Joon!

After a while, even my brother got his first appointment and I was tired of waiting for news. I became the last person to get vaccinated when they thought I was going to be the first. I'm not in a rush to get vaccinated, but the whole process of securing an appointment was kinda frustrating.

Thanks to the help of my relatives (and their connections), I do end up getting my first vaccine appointment. I immediately confirmed my appointment, took a screenshot and I swore that I would just wait patiently for the date to arrive.

My first vaccine dose

When the day finally arrived, I drove to Dewan Tanjung MBSA Seksyen 19 in Shah Alam to get my shot. I went alone and reached my destination at 8 friggin' AM in a Wednesday morning.

Before entering the building, I had to fill up some papers with my signature and details. I was asked to sit while filling the forms, and so I did at the last row of plastic chairs, because I wanted to avoid getting close to people.

But while waiting, I noticed that after the volunteer gestured the first row of people to get into the building, the people sitting on rows behind got up, moved forward, and sat in the chair in front of them. It was then I realised, that this is actually a queue and I was sitting at the last row like an idiot.

Fret not, I eventually joined the not-so-obvious queue. And each time I moved to the seat in front of me, I thought, man, if there was a Covid-positive person in front of me, I would be sitting in his chair multiple times. I'm not entirely sure if this way of queuing is safe, to be honest.

I eventually got into the building and was asked to join the second queue to discuss about the details of the vaccination with someone like a medical counselor. And just like the previous one, the queue involved sitting on the plastic chair in front of you. Except this time, there was two lanes for one counselor.

Right when I thought I could finally talk to the counselor, a pregnant lady jumped in front of my queue and spoke to the person before I could. I mean, I wasn't mad at her, but their talk took longer than the rest. I was losing my patience, and instead of waiting for them to finish, I went to a different lane to talk to a different counselor.

So the counselor explained to me that I was taking the Pfizer vaccine and told me all about the expected side effects from it. She told me what I should and shouldn't do after taking the jab before sending me to the third counter to speak to another person that confirmed my personal information. And then finally, I joined the fourth and last queue of the day before getting my shot.

 

The counter number I was assigned to.

It was 9:03AM when I took my first dose of the vaccine. I waited an hour to get to this point. I sat down on the chair beside the counter eight and was greeted by a nice lady. She showed me the syringe containing the vaccine and gave me the jab. After she injected the vaccine, she showed me the empty syringe and asked me to scan a QR code to confirm that I got my first dose.

After I got my first vaccine, I was directed to a hall where I had to wait 15 minutes to observe for any symptoms. I was called to the front after waiting for 15 minutes and I was given some freebies for getting vaccinated. Then, I went home.

Fortunately, I didn't experience any side effects from the vaccination besides a sore arm. Then, all I could do was wait for my second appointment.

The second dose

Exactly three weeks after the first dose, I went to the same community hall for my second jab. Similar to my first time, I went quite early in the morning but this time, I was greeted with a smaller crowd and shorter queue times.

I spoke to a medical counselor who asked if I experienced symptoms after my first dose, which I did not. When she asked if I have any allergies, I mentioned that I have a minor shellfish allergy. She proceeded to paste a yellow sticker on my papers. This detail is important later.

Then, she told me head to "counter three." I looked around for any signs of this third counter, but there wasn't any.

A few weeks before my second vaccine shot, my brother—who had his doses in the same location as me—told me that getting the second jab will be much faster as we didn't have confirm our personal information again. I must have misunderstood, so I completely skipped the third counter and joined the queue to get my jab.

While queuing for the second jab, a volunteer checked my app and noticed that I didn't go through the third counter. She said "Haiyo, budak ini..." (Sigh, this child...) and helped me get my personal information confirmed.

In my defense, I showed my app to a volunteer and he let me get into the queue, even though I wasn't supposed to! While waiting in line, I asked a volunteer if this is the third counter and she said yes. And lastly, another uncle also faced the same problem as me.

Nevertheless, I got my second jab anyway and went to the other hall to wait 15 minutes in case any symptom appears. I met with the same (what I assume is) medical professional and told him the same thing as last time, I have shellfish allergy.

This dude—I've only met him two times and both times he looked like the most annoyed person
—then asked me, "why did they give you this yellow sticker?"

Honestly, I wanted to ask back, how the heck should I know? But all I did was replied I don't know why they did they either. He then asked me to sit right in front of the table he was sitting, a little bit away from the others in the hall. I have no idea if this meant anything.

While waiting, I noticed people who got to the hall later than me were allowed to go home earlier than me. I guess my allergy has something to do with this, but I was getting impatient and I wanted to leave. But after 15 minutes, I finally got to return home anyway.

Compared to my first dose, I felt the second time was way more unorganised. I managed to skip a queue and have a professional asking me as if I knew how their system work. It took less time to get everything done, but I was more pissed when I left the place.

Fully vaccinated

For the next week days, me and my mum—who shared the same date as me for her second dose—observed if we have any symptoms after the second jab. Fortunately, other than a sore arm, we experienced no other pain, headaches, or fever.

I heard a lot scary things about the second dose, but I guess my body took the shot well. I still have to wait one more week for the vaccine to kick in, but I'm glad me and my family finally got all my shots.

An uncertain, bleak future

Despite people getting protection from the virus, our country is still nowhere near from recovering in any aspect. Since 2020, Malaysia has changed its prime minister twice in a year and yet there is no reliable leadership in sight.

The number of cases are higher than ever, businesses are still struggling, and the people of Malaysia are getting fed up that the government isn't capable of improving our situation. It's now the 26th August as I typing this, and the number of new cases today is 22 thousand.

It's safe to say our country is fucked up. Am I surprised? Not really. But it is still very disappointing.

I haven't been to a mall or seen my friends in months. Since I got my new job, I have been to my office less than 10 times. I haven't visited my relatives or celebrated last Chinese New Year with them. I'm an introverted person, but even I feel very frustrated with the way we're living apart from people we love.

I'm super jealous of other countries who got their shit in control and people who can actually go out under certain SOPs.

I long to see the day when everyone can go back to the old normal. When gathering with people isn't a crime, when dining into restaurant isn't a chore and when traveling is something you can actually plan. It's crazy to think that how our world could change in such a short time.

To whoever is reading this, may you have the strength and patience to overcome any of your obstacles in this pandemic.