Today, on the tenth day of the current lockdown, I got my first vaccination jab done! We just walked into the local vaccination centre, and they have spaces!

My age group wasn’t eligible to book until this week. When I tried to book my vaccination earlier this week the latest slot I could book is six weeks away. After booking my slot, today, I got a message saying I can book the vaccine. Clearly, something is off with the booking system.

Despite booking for October, we decided to try walking into one of the two vaccination centres in the neighbourhood. The closest centre displayed a sign that walk-ins are not allowed. So we drove past to the next one, and it turned out they had some spaces!

The rest of the process was smooth and effortless. I am afraid of needles, but I did not even realize they jabbed on my left arm! The staff were very professional, friendly, and nice.

Despite the great success we had with the Covid response in 2020, I must say as a country we floundered on the vaccination program for whatever reason. It took the deadly delta variant to appear in our community to expedite our vaccination program on a war-footing. I feel like we dropped the ball somewhere when we were Covid-free in the six months before the current lockdown: an example that past performance increases confidence more than ability. We should have continued the same 2020-level of rigour into 2021 on both eradicating and vaccination fronts.

Anyhow, I am glad to get my first jab done today and looking forward to booking the second jab in three weeks. Some clicks to commemorate today: