When I told these three late last year that kids could get vaccinated against COVID soon, I was met with scrunched up faces - no, I'm scared, it's painful!
Fast forward to mid January or so, Kai started asking me when he could be vaccinated. Oh, now you want to be vaccinated? Turned out that over half his class had had their first dose. Yang didn't know anything about his classmates. Yu knew that his good friend FF had her first jab but wasn't too convinced...
We decided earlier that we should vaccinate the kids. It doesn't mean they won't get COVID, but hopefully it would be mild. I also thought that if vaccination allows them to have as normal a life as possible, e.g. this mama feels better about bringing them to various places, then they will get the vaccination. And who knows whether or when vaccination differentiation measures would apply to kids while they're still kids?
I was waiting for a good timing. At first, I heard Yang's swimming lessons in school would be term 1. I didn't want him to miss those with his friends. I also hope to bring them out to jump about during March holidays; Yu has been asking to go to a bouncy castle. And perhaps I should stagger the three of them to better manage any side effects? And do this when Sito is around? etc...
Then came sibling walk-in. Then the surge in number of cases. I finally made an appointment for 24 Feb just before Sito's return, and just before I knew I had COVID, shifted that early to 14 Feb since side effects of first dose should be manageable.
But COVID hit me. And Yang got a string of HRNs from school. Yu's class was also one third down; luckily he was home coz I had COVID. I realised that if we waited further, they might get COVID.
And just as I decided to go ahead, I had the jitters. What if they had bad side effects?! The paranoid side of me can't help thinking about striking lottery. This kind of lottery can be serious. Later, after their first dose, I saw a news article about serious side effects that would have put me off longer!
Anyway, in the group chat with LC and Siok, Siok shared something reassuring. Her own kid - one year younger than Yang - was among the first to be jabbed in his age group. Ok, let's go!
Yu remained home that day coz I wanted to see if there were new cases in his class. So there was no need to go fetch him. After Kai and Yang returned, we went to Macs at BPP. Since they didn't want coconut water, I fed them ice cream *.* Also some nuggets coz Kai and Yang needed lunch. The staff gave them balloon swords - they were so happy!
Ice cream but no chocolate toppings today
Arrived just in time for our 3.30 pm appointment. The staff were very nice! I showed student passes and birth cert, and answered questions while the swordmen did swordman things and weighed themselves repeatedly *.*
Still in school uniform but they had changed out of their shoes
We didn't wait long. Kai went first. Mistake. Coz he went, ah sooo painful! So the brothers were scared :( Yang was cooperative enough. He stayed still and was quiet but he said it was painful. Yu sat on my lap but he kept moving, and when the needle went in, he went loud though it wasn't quite a scream. No one cried though.
Swopped seats during observation time to practise 听写with this one...
The screen was far in front but still a soul sucker...
Yu looked so tiny!
He wanted a photo like his friend B, holding the stickers
The nurse gave each of them two stickers but Kai didn't want them so his brothers got three each. By the time we got home, there were only three left coz I threw whatever they dropped on the ground. They refused to just keep it in the bag!
Round 1 done!
Huh, there's round 2? Haha! Yes, my boys!! But they agreed they knew what to expect next time... (Though Yu forgot soon after *.*)
At the start of the overhead bridge to BPP, a family of four saw us taking pictures and stopped. They went to the vax centre and decided not to go ahead. We chatted a bit about our experience. When we left, I saw the parents take out birth certs - I suppose it was reassuring to see a single parent bring three kids for a jab at the same time?!
As we went into BPP, we saw Yu's classmate who was going for his round 2. Hope that gave Yu some courage for round 2?
Left the kids at the Pokemon machines while I quickly grabbed some canned tomatoes. Then we had an early dinner at our fave place where the kids had their usual beef udon and sushi. I was hungry enough to order a wazen with double carb - hadn't had that for ages!
Two were busy talking while one was busy eating
I made porridge for dinner the next day in case they didn't feel well. But it was at most a sore arm. Kai had a pretty sore arm. After school, Yang's arm was also sore but in a nice way, haha! Yu's arm was not sore even at bedtime. The first dose was pretty uneventful...
Now, I had wanted to post about their vaccination after their second dose today. But we did not go for the second dose as all three caught COVID :( More on that later...
There was no option to cancel appointments so I called MOH on Tuesday. No need to cancel. I also asked when they should take their second dose and got a dose of weird advice: Kai who went to a doctor for dizziness and puking could take his second dose 90 days later while Yang and YU who weren't in MOH's registry of COVID patients could proceed with the second dose now.
Um, I was asking about COVID vs. vaccination and was not expecting vaccination to be dependent on whether they were in MOH's records!! Best.. The lady was also quite amused and agreed I could wait for the other two too...
Btw, at this point, the advisory on the vaccine website no longer asks people on HRN to postpone vaccination.
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