By Nancy Nais
SERIAN, Feb 27: Inability to sleep and phobia of needles were among the feelings media personnel went through last night as they tried to prepare themselves for the Covid-19 vaccination today.
DayakDaily duty editor Alice Wee, senior journalists Desmond Davidson from The Malaysian Insight and Sulok Tawie from The Malay Mail were the three media personnel among the first batch of frontliners in Sarawak to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Driving all the way from Kuching district, the trio arrived at Serian community hall at about 8.30am and they were accompanied by their family members.
They then registered themselves before taking a seat to review their consent form.
When it was her turn to be seated with two nurses getting ready to administer the vaccine on her left arm, Wee, 62, who was usually jovial became calm as she mentally prepared herself.
“Initially, I was nervous that I find it hard to sleep but that feeling eventually turned thrilling as I was among the earliest media personnel in Sarawak to get the jab.
“The nurse was so efficient and fast, I honestly didn’t feel a thing. Any pain? Not at all. I think an ant bite is more painful than this,” Wee chuckled as she related her five-second experience while sitting at the observation section for 15 minutes.
Wee added that indeed she was quite worried about the side effects as it is a new type of vaccine.
On the other hand, she is happy to get the chance to be in the first batch of the vaccination programme.
“Although it was undeniable that all medicines tend to have its own side effects, I believe more on the positive side of the vaccine rather than to worry about any minor side effects,” Wee asserted.
Desmond, 62, admitted to be super phobia over needles, regardless of any vaccine or purposes.
“No matter what, even to the dentist, I have this phobia over needles. However, I knew that this vaccine is important so I might as well get it over and done with. I woke up very early today so I am glad the process was quite fast.
“Although my left arm at the section where the vaccine was injected feels warm right now, there was no other discomfort and I feel alright. Twelve minutes have passed, so I guess I am alright,” he jokingly said as he was sitting at the observation section.
Meanwhile, Sulok said he was looking forward to the vaccination until the moment he sat on the final chair.
“This morning, I was very calm while driving to Serian. However, the pressure and nervous feeling suddenly built up the moment I sat on that chair where I got vaccinated. Perhaps that was why my blood pressure was slightly high during the 15 minutes observation period. Must be all the excitement kicking in.
“On the side note, I would like to thank Federation of Sarawak Journalist Association (FSJA) for helping the media to be part of the frontliners to receive the first batch vaccination,” Sulok said, adding that he has high hope on Covid-19 vaccine, that could curb the spread of the virus for the world to get back to its good old days.
Sarawak Covid-19 vaccination programme was officially rolled out yesterday (Feb 26) following the arrival of the first consignment of 23,400 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech ultra-cold vaccine in Kuching International Airport on Feb 24.
Sarawak will receive about 87,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine by this month and March. — DayakDaily
