FRONTLINERS DETAIL EXPERIENCE AFTER COVID JAB

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26 March 2021

By Wartawan Nabalu News

KOTA KINABALU: The Covid-19 vaccine is seen as humankind’s last hope to fight off the pandemic and receiving it may be scary as the effectiveness is still uncertain.

We have heard reports where people actually died after receiving the vaccine, and some even experience adverse reactions.

Like it or not, frontliners have no choice but to give in to the jab in order to aid the nation in the pandemic battle without worry or fear.

Names and details of frontliners are registered automatically as vaccine recipients in the system because it is mandatory for this group to get the jab.

One of the medical frontliners, Alexander Pungin, 33, said that at first, he was nervous about receiving the vaccine as he has heard rumours of the negative effects of Pfizer vaccine.

However, after being vaccinated, the Assistant Environmental Health Officer felt a sense of safety as he came to acknowledge the benefit which is intended to protect him and the people around him against the virus.

"The only side effect that I felt upon receiving the vaccine was slight dizziness which only occurred for a while,” said the officer who works in Sandakan.

Alex believed that the situation will soon be back to how it used to be, but with some regulations (new norms) that everyone must adapt with.

“People will still need to follow the standard operating procedures (SOP), such as social distancing and wearing face masks.”

Meanwhile, Anne Zainal, who is an assistant research officer in the medical field recalled her vaccination experience as agitating.

Knowing that she would be among the first group to be vaccinated under the Phase 1 programme didn’t help her calm her nervousness.

But eventually, she was glad to be among the first in Malaysia to receive the vaccine.

"I wasn't too worried about the side effects as I do not have allergies or any health issues, but it just really made me nervous.

"The only side effects that I encountered were muscle aches on my arm where the vaccine was injected and body heat for two days," said Anne who hailed from Kota Belud.

The 27-year-old opined that it would take a long time for the pandemic to be eradicated and for the world to heal completely.

"For now, the vaccination would not be our ticket to restore our normal lives just like before the pandemic started. It would only act as a preventive measure and help enhance our antibodies from the virus.

"Nevertheless, it is not impossible for the transmission to completely halt when all humans have taken the vaccine,” she reckoned.

For Ricardo George, he felt light-headed for the first 10 minutes after being injected and for the whole week, he had to endure the feeling of weariness and drowsiness.

“I thought the side effects would end after a week, but I had to deal with loss of appetite on the second week. But eventually, the side effects wore off,” said the 30-year-old from Ranau.

“It is normal to feel nervous or afraid about the vaccine as I did myself, but it’s best to understand that the reason behind the creation is so that we all can be protected.”

Ricardo also painted a picture of his imagination where human continues to live with the new norms in the future as he is convinced that the virus would never be fully eradicated.

As of March 25, a total of 41,971 individuals in Sabah have received the first dose of vaccination while 1,378 had been vaccinated for the second dose.