To Vaccinate or not, that is the COV 19 Question

 

There has been so much written about COV 19 vaccinations, the side effects, the end result and , to be honest, I hesitated at first. Now the Bahrain Government is threatening to limit the freedom of those who do not have the vaccination after Ramadan!

Emirates will only carry those who test negative and all their crew have been vaccinated and I can foresee a time when you will not be able to travel without a vaccination. 

I have been very impressed with the amount of effort the Bahrain Government has put into getting everyone vaccinated- we now have 3 massive vaccination centre across the country, a choice of 4 vaccines :

Sinopharm- with a waiting time of 21 days

Pfizer -BioNTech - with a waiting time of 30 days

Covishield - Astra Zeneca- with a waiting time of 37 days

Sputnik V - with a waiting time of 2 days

The waiting times are from when you request the vaccine on the Bahrain COV 19 Be Aware App , which has details of each vaccination, the gap between doses , and so on

All of this is provided free of charge to everyone- Bahrainis, Expats, Labourers, Directors and retirees like me 

One of 3 queues outside the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre at 8 am for the Sputnik vaccine

As of today- (25.4.21) 659,990 people have had their first dose and 520,745 their second dose. So today I am having my Sputnik vaccination! I was one of 12,304 people to receive a dose of vaccine - that's some going!

My brother pointed out that Bahrain has the 5th best vaccination record in the world at 40% . This was further confirmation that I had made the right choice to stay in Bahrain rather than move to the Philippines where the rate is 1% of the population have had their first dose. Today the Philippines reached 1 million cases and 16,783 deaths, compared to 625 deaths in Bahrain. In the world today there are 147 million cases of COV 19, with over 3 million deaths.

 Sources:  https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations and BeAware app ( accessed 26.4.2021)

I took everyone's advice ( special thanks to Oliver, Carl, Riel and my brother) and got there early, had food before I went and made sure I was hydrated and had used the toilet. I also did some shopping so I had food when I got home in case I was too ill to cook. My appointment was at 10 am but as my friends had queued from 3- 5 hours on previous days they suggested I arrived at 8 am for my 10 am appointment.

I had to laugh- there was a long queue in hot sun at 8 am for the 10 am appointment- I got one of the last parking spaces. Once in line I was enjoying the sun and nearly at the front of the queue when a security guard saw me in the queue.

                                                           Nearly at the front!

I was the only smartly dressed old white guy among all the Shop assistants, restaurant workers, labourers and  Bangladeshi street sweepers etc.

He said "Are you over 60 sir?". 

I have never been asked that before and had to think for a minute and when I said "yes I am" he said follow me and took me inside.

Here there was a short queue to register and then when he saw I was 60 on the label the guy doing the registrations said "Do not wait sir, just go to the first nurse." I was in and out in 30 mins. 

 The Queue inside to register was shorter and it was air conditioned- my ticket number was 322

Carl said it was because God was looking down on me and rewarding me for my good deeds to other people. 

There were 300 seats in each hall and by the time I left every one was full and they stopped allowing people in

After all my worries about allergic reactions, blood clots, intense pain etc. the vaccine did not hurt at all and soon I was set free with my vaccine booklet, and the date for my next dose (17.5.21) . On the way home I went to the bank to order my new credit card, and to Alosra to do some shopping and as I write this at 2.30 pm , 6 hours after taking the vaccine I have no side effects. I had a good nights sleep ( 12 hrs ) and still had no side effects the next day.

I was reading on the WHO COV 19 website that:

Vaccine side effects are usually mild. Vaccines help protect the body from certain diseases. Like any medicine, they can cause minor, short-term side effects while the body adjusts them, such as a sore arm or a mild fever. More serious side effects are possible, but extremely rare. A person is far more likely to be seriously harmed by a disease than by its vaccine.

Source: World Health Organization

So I am very happy to be in Bahrain where the wise Leadership was one of the first to develop a digital Covid -19 passport as I read in Arabian Business Magazine as part of my research for this blog:

"Bahrain has become one of the first countries in the world to launch a digital Covid-19 vaccine passport.

The country's BeAware app enables individuals to show their immunity status two weeks after receiving both doses of the jab, when antibodies have started developing.

The green 'Covid-19 Vaccinated' shield is accompanied by an official certificate detailing the users' name, date of birth, nationality and which vaccine they received.

Authorities can verify its validity by scanning a QR code linking to the national vaccine register.

To access the digital certificate, users must have received two doses of the vaccine, with 21 days between each. They then must wait for two weeks after the second dose for antibodies to start developing.

Other countries developing similar programmes include Denmark and Sweden, with both nations planning to launch the service in the coming weeks.

It comes as the International Monetary Fund released new figures projecting Bahrain’s economy will grow by 3.3% in 2021, driven by its quick policy response to minimise the impact of the pandemic. This has included rapid and widespread access to vaccinations and salary subsidies.

The kingdom last month opened free vaccine appointments to the entire nation, offering all citizens and residents a choice of jab.

Users fill in their personal details and can select between Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca or Sputnik V.

The approach is different to other nations where only high-risk individuals can book appointments, or citizens are contacted by officials with pre-arranged times.

In November, Bahrain officially approved a Covid vaccine for frontline health workers and quickly rolled it out to all citizens and residents over the age of 18."

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/healthcare/458877-bahrain-launches-digital-covid-19-vaccine-passport

So, in answer to my question, vaccinate or not, the answer has to be YES!

Well done Bahrain!