Tere!

It seems in Japan, citizens can’t predict when they can get a vaccine for COVID-19. On the other hand, as some of you may know, vaccination in Estonia started for medical and education people or people in the high-risk group a long time ago. After that eligible people groups expanded to those who are in their 50s, 40s and on the 15 May people in their 30s were eligible to book vaccination.

Considering the access to the portal site, I thought it might take a long time to finish the process of getting vaccines, so I will finish this article little by little.

Contents
★17/May/2021
★18/May/2021
★28/May/2021
★Appendix
★29/May/2021

★17/May/2021

On the 17th May, finally our (people at age 16 and over) turn came to book vaccination for COVID-19. To book the vaccination, you need to register from digilugu. The booking started at 7 pm on the 17th. I had something to do at 6 pm for one hour, so I knew that I would be too late for that, and when accessing the site at around 8 pm, there were too many people ahead of me as expected.

★18/May/2021

There were around 10000 people ahead of me at 8 am.

I also read in some article that we couldn’t book a vaccination with Smart-ID, so I was already ready for that (disappointment or the reality that I couldn’t do it with Smart-ID), but I could access it with Smart-ID without any trouble. Who wrote such information.

The image above shows that there were 10000 people ahead of me. However, the process seemed to have gone fast, so I had been waiting for only two hours. As written in the yellow box, you have only 20 minutes to finish the booking process. Otherwise you have to start from the beginning again.

Due to the given time I don’t have any screenshots, but I didn’t notice they had an English page, and I was processing the booking in Estonian! (I could do it because I could understand it a bit.)

You can search the type of vaccines, the place to get a vaccine, or county, but I couldn’t choose Pfizer or Moderna in Tallinn, so Janssen was the only option at that time. I preferred Pfizer, but I booked Janssen’s vaccine since it’s better than nothing.

The place is East-Tallinn Central Hospital in Mustamäe. I’ll get it on the 28th of May.

★28/May/2021

I got a vaccine — Janssen. (I had thought I would need to get vaccinated twice even with Janssen, but my friend told me Janssen requires only one shot. I had preferred Pfizer so I was ready for two shots, but then I was lucky in a sense — no need to get two shots.) The vaccination location was a hall in Lasnamäe, which is known as a Russian area in Tallinn. There is an ice skate hall.

There was a queue in front of the entrance so I was one of them, and after a while I became the first person in the queue. Then the receptionist asked me my booking time. If your booking time is not too early or too late, he will let you progress. (My booking was 14.10, and I arrived there around 13.50, waiting for less than 10 minutes, but he let me proceed.)

After getting OK from the receptionist, a nurse gave me a new mask and asked me to sanitise the hands. 

There are six registration booths, and I was told to go to the fourth one. After waiting for my turn, two nurses asked me about my current physical condition, history of COVID-19 infection, allergies and medication. I have taken several medicines so I showed them notes that I always use at a pharmacy when buying them. Then one of the nurses went somewhere to ask if those are okay with the vaccine. She told me everything was alright, so I finally went to the vaccination booth.

At the booth there was only one nurse. After putting my stuff on the chair, she vaccinated me.

It was too quick to think about how painful the injection is usually.

After vaccination, I was told to sit on a chair, and had to wait for 15 minutes. If there is nothing, people can go home. I didn’t see anything so I went home too.

★Appendix

I got vaccinated on 28th May, and was told not to drink alcohol for two days. My birthday is on the 30th. I wanted to have cooked ajillo and celebrated with wine…

★29/May/2021

Today I forced myself to go to a supermarket which is 10 minutes away by foot to buy milk.

After that I spent most of my time in bed.

Yes, I had fever.

I don’t know how high the fever was but maybe 38 degrees. Some people are said to have 41 degrees, and sent to the hospital, but in my case in the beginning the fever was slight, and while talking with my friends in Japan on the phone, the fever got more serious.

The good thing was, although I had a fever for the whole day, the next day I was completely fine.

I asked my 35-year-old friends who also got Janssen about how the side effect was, and he said he was tired only. It’s also said that younger people tend to have heavier side effects so it’s convincing enough.

I got three masks from my mum, but it seems I will hardly use them…

Aitäh! 🙂