Vaccine Rollout in Australia - personal accounts.

Posted elsewhere but doing it here too.
My entire family has now had two doses.
My girls went to Olympic Park for dose 2 today.
Reported as busy but moving well. No ill effects so far but mini-me couldn’t finish her dinner (may have been my culinary skills).

#goscience
 
Entire family now 99% done in AU (except the kids) :). One parent just to get second AZ.

We do have the benefit of having a lot of family working in healthcare which helped but many took initiative to get vaccinated in their own ways….
 
Last edited:
SWMBO and I had our 1st Pfizer jabs at Sydney Olympic Park mass vax center on the 30th June. On the day/time that we were there it was organized mayhem, with the system / digital check-in down, and everything being done with paper forms. I felt for the NSW Health team, but many others had trouble minding their anger (including my frustrated SWMBO, who I had assured about a smooth process to look forward to... lesson learned there! :rolleyes:).

We parked at the nearby P3 lot about 30 mins prior to our 1:30PM booking time, and made our way across to the centre. On arrival we found a large queue, which snaked around from the entry and up Figtree Dr almost to Olympic Blvd! We then found a support staff member who said this was the 12:30-45 queue, and we needed to go around to find the 1:30-1:45 queue for our group. The 1:00-1:15 queue ran alongside the building down Australia Ave and up Herb Elliott Ave, and we joined ours about 50 metres down that, in an already lengthy adjacent queue. They said they were running about an hour behind to appointments.

Staff walked up and down and sighted appointment times on slips and devices to ensure we were in the right queues, and indicated that these were slower than usual check-ins due to the digital method not being available. They did indicate it was still quite quick though, once underway with the check-in. True to what was said earlier, our group started moving about an hour after we first had expected to, and we were ushered in with coloured stickers to indicate what shot we were there for. Everyone was directed to the physically distanced waiting area and given paper forms and pens to complete the same detail that was given on the booking pre-registration online (as that wasn't accessible by check-in or nurses). Before we could fill in more than a few fields on the forms, we were called to a nurse station for our shots. We completed the remainder of the form there, and a brief consultation and a few questions later my wife and I were done and moved into the observation seats for about 15 mins.

We left the centre at about 2:45PM. I have to say that given everything was being done manually, it was still quite a solid operation. The team did well in tough circumstances, and I hope they don't have to deal with that too frequently, although a chat with a mate who had done his 2 shots in the past month indicated he had an experience of each, as well - the digital and manual check in - on his two visits in June.

All I am concerned with now is that it is 12 days since the first jab, and no update to mine or my wife's Medicare record. With no official check in and only manual paperwork, I'm a tad nervous. I have my 2nd booked for the 21st July, and don't want to run into trouble on the day with no record of jab 1. Has anyone had to go through manually and has seen their shot appear in Medicare? How long did that take?

Oh... and no side effects at all for me. SWMBO had some injection site and arm soreness for a day or so, and also suffered a very important meeting cancellation for trusting my predictions on efficiency at the location. Yes, yes - I already said 'lesson learned', dear.

Cheers,
Matt.
 
One of my staff turned 40 today. He spent an hour or so online trying different hubs and GPs to find a Pfizer appointment, just submitted his leave request (my employer is giving leave to staff to get vaccinated) for 30th July, I just approved it.
 
Had my AZ #2 about 3 hours ago. Shot through immediately afterwards. Stuff the waiting around.

Had no reaction at all to #1. Same so far with #2.

Fully 5G-compliant now. 🥳
I was good for a week after #2, then went a bit "off" for 2 weeks. A bit headachy and brain-foggy and poor sleep, unusual for me. Was it AZ, EOFY busyness or wine episodes. Who knows? Anyway all good now. I can hear you loud and clear on the 5G, Sgt Raymond Shaw reporting for duty 🤯
 
Had my AZ #2 about 3 hours ago. Shot through immediately afterwards. Stuff the waiting around.

Had no reaction at all to #1. Same so far with #2.

Fully 5G-compliant now. 🥳
haha that's hillarious, just shot off, no waiting around. nice one.
 
SWMBO and I had our 1st Pfizer jabs at Sydney Olympic Park mass vax center on the 30th June. On the day/time that we were there it was organized mayhem, with the system / digital check-in down, and everything being done with paper forms. I felt for the NSW Health team, but many others had trouble minding their anger (including my frustrated SWMBO, who I had assured about a smooth process to look forward to... lesson learned there! :rolleyes:).

We parked at the nearby P3 lot about 30 mins prior to our 1:30PM booking time, and made our way across to the centre. On arrival we found a large queue, which snaked around from the entry and up Figtree Dr almost to Olympic Blvd! We then found a support staff member who said this was the 12:30-45 queue, and we needed to go around to find the 1:30-1:45 queue for our group. The 1:00-1:15 queue ran alongside the building down Australia Ave and up Herb Elliott Ave, and we joined ours about 50 metres down that, in an already lengthy adjacent queue. They said they were running about an hour behind to appointments.

Staff walked up and down and sighted appointment times on slips and devices to ensure we were in the right queues, and indicated that these were slower than usual check-ins due to the digital method not being available. They did indicate it was still quite quick though, once underway with the check-in. True to what was said earlier, our group started moving about an hour after we first had expected to, and we were ushered in with coloured stickers to indicate what shot we were there for. Everyone was directed to the physically distanced waiting area and given paper forms and pens to complete the same detail that was given on the booking pre-registration online (as that wasn't accessible by check-in or nurses). Before we could fill in more than a few fields on the forms, we were called to a nurse station for our shots. We completed the remainder of the form there, and a brief consultation and a few questions later my wife and I were done and moved into the observation seats for about 15 mins.

We left the centre at about 2:45PM. I have to say that given everything was being done manually, it was still quite a solid operation. The team did well in tough circumstances, and I hope they don't have to deal with that too frequently, although a chat with a mate who had done his 2 shots in the past month indicated he had an experience of each, as well - the digital and manual check in - on his two visits in June.

All I am concerned with now is that it is 12 days since the first jab, and no update to mine or my wife's Medicare record. With no official check in and only manual paperwork, I'm a tad nervous. I have my 2nd booked for the 21st July, and don't want to run into trouble on the day with no record of jab 1. Has anyone had to go through manually and has seen their shot appear in Medicare? How long did that take?

Oh... and no side effects at all for me. SWMBO had some injection site and arm soreness for a day or so, and also suffered a very important meeting cancellation for trusting my predictions on efficiency at the location. Yes, yes - I already said 'lesson learned', dear.

Cheers,
Matt.
I can’t help in regards to manual check in but did you at least get a vaccination card? This was filled in on first and second visits in Melbourne.
 

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Well, I thought I'd share my experience getting the jab as I've now passed the 2 week mark of my second AstraZeneca jab to become officially fully vaccinated! 🥳

Apologies in advance if this is a long ramble, but I suspect some of this information may be useful for those looking to get the jab or want to know more about the process.

I'm in my early-30s and am an overseas student studying in the Greater Sydney area. I have a chronic disease as defined by Phase 1b of the Commonwealth's rollout plan (Crohn's Disease taking Immunosuppressants) and so had front of the line access to the vaccine. Neither my GP nor specialist reached out to me but I was following this space closely and as soon as 1b opened up I was on the horn with my GP to book an appointment to get the jab (this was March 22nd IIRC). Show up to the GP's office he goes through the usual questionnaire. Initially he thought I didn't qualify for 1b, but I pointed to that document which explicitly states I'm covered and after looking at a spreadsheet on his end confirmed that I indeed qualify. We get into booking the appointment to get the actual jab and there's a hiccup: I don't have Medicare as I'm an overseas student. No worries, he tells me, there's a Respiratory Clinic in Ryde that services Phase 1b patients and can handled overseas students like myself. Great! I then check the website and notice I need to have an Australian Health Identifier (like a Medicare number but for overseas folks like myself) that can be used to track the immunization in the Australian Immunization Registry. Apply for that and a week later a letter from Brisbane comes with that magic number.

In the meanwhile I book my first appointment via the HotDoc online booking service - at that time there was plenty of availability literally anytime you want you could get your jab (likely because only Phase 1b folks like myself could use the clinic). I booked for the afternoon of Saturday April 3 hoping that by then I would receive my identifier. Fortunately enough, it arrives 2 days before the appointment. I show up to the Respritory Clinic in Ryde at the scheduled time and there's literally two patients there: an elderly person and myself with something like 6 nurses waiting to give the jab. They ask a couple questions, there's some more paperwork to fill out and I get my jab. As I wait after getting the jab, a nurse comes up to me to book the second appointment which was set to exactly 12 weeks time (afternoon of Saturday June 26). The day after the jab I had a bit of a headache and had to take that day off but otherwise all was well.

Fast forward 12 weeks and I'm back at the respritory clinic. Yours truly decided not to take transit into Ryde from where he is given the growing outbreak at that time so I biked a good 15 km in for the clinic. After waiting 20 minutes for the heart rate to go back to a normal level, I get my second jab and that was it. This time the clinic which quite busy, although ironically the COVID check in was not working. As I was in the recovery room waiting the requisite 15 minutes I check my phone and sure enough we are going into lockdown at 6 PM. I figure, I may as well celebrate this second dose before the party's over and head to Starbucks and sit there for the next couple hours until I am legally required to leave the premises and go home.

After getting the second jab, I didn't notice much in terms of side-effects (no headache) so all seems well. I'm following the present order since although I'm now fully vaccinated I can still get COVID and show no symptoms whilst infectious. When this lockdown nonsense is over, yours truly will need to head to a lab to get an antibody test to confirm that my immune system has properly learned from this vaccine along with the usual blood work that comes from have a chronic illness.

A couple of thoughts I'll share that may be of benefit to the wider community:
  • The time it takes to go from first vaccination to fully vaccinated is long
    • Best case (Pfizer) is about 5 weeks from the first dose with a 3 week waiting period from 1st to 2nd dose and 2 weeks after for body to mount full immune response
    • Better Case (AstraZeneca) is about 10 to 14 weeks with a 8-12 week waiting period from first to second dose and 2 weeks for body to mount full immune response
  • Both Pfizer and AstraZeneca are great vaccines in terms of safety and efficacy. There is no one right answer for which one to get:
    • Pros of AstraZeneca:
      • Readily available
      • Non mRNA based (the long term effects of mRNA vaccines, particularly for the autoimmune community is unknown)
    • Pros of Pfizer:
      • Substantially shorter window between first and second
      • Marginally safer than AstraZeneca
  • Any adult in Australia can get a COVID vaccine. However, your choices will depend on which group you are in:
    • Between 40 to 60 or under 40 (but in Phase 1a/1b) either AstraZeneca or Pfizer
    • Under 40 (not in any priority group) or over 60: AstraZeneca
  • There is a tool I highly recommend looking at (which the COVID vaccine eligibility tool uses) called HotDoc which lists vaccine clinics in your area, shows you their availability and lets you book an appointment
  • Many clinics in the Greater Sydney area are offering appointments for both the Pfizer and the AstraZeneca vaccine this week, some of them are even offering same-day appointments
  • The most important thing is to get an appointment. Without an appointment you won't get the jab, the appointment sets into motion a number of processes including setting aside the two doses for you
As an aside, I know some folks may chime in and say why am I arguing that anyone can go get the COVID jab when we haven't even finished up vaccinating the high priority group. I think there are at least four critical reasons why it's important for this information to get out there and for everyone to come forward with a vaccine.

First, those in Phase 1a and 1b have had ample opportunity to get the jab, we were given the opportunity to book over 3 months ago now and the fact that some folks haven't gotten their first jab is frankly their problem. In addition it is the GPs and clinics which will ultimately decide whether someone gets the jab based on a number of criteria. If they believe they should save some doses for their elderly patients they will set that aside for them.

Second, as someone in a high-risk group, even though I have my vaccine there is no guarantee I'm fully protected (not until at least I get my antibody tests back) with some others being unable to be vaccinated due to other medical issues. However, the more people we get vaccinated in our community the less potential there is for transmission and therefore for us to pick up the virus. I'm sick and tired of the media and politicians chastising certain groups for, "skipping the queue," when we've got millions of doses of the vaccine in the freezer when they could be protecting our communities. This type of class warfare is precisely why we have lockdowns in Sydney and other metropolitan areas.

Third, having an enormous uptake in vaccines administered and fully booked appointments will put greater pressure on our politicians who have been dragging their feet to secure the doses we desperately need. Imagine the moral outrage of hearing that the next available vaccination appointment anywhere in Greater Sydney is in 7 weeks? If we move all of these vaccines from the cold storage and into the arms this will put pressure on Commonwealth to do the right thing.

Lastly, and I suspect most importantly to the community, the sooner everyone gets vaccinated the sooner will advance to Phases 2 and 3 of exiting lockdown. The truth of the matter is Australia has been in lockdown since March 2020. I know the Premiers don't like to hear this pointing to the fact that things have mostly been open since then, but if you can't travel between states never mind between countries, you're in a lockdown. I suspect many of us on the forums have not seen a loved one in over a year now and the prospect of having this right given back to us in 2022 at the earliest is not pleasant to say the least.

Here's to hoping we all arm up!

Your Fully Vaccinated 🥳,

KangarooFlyer88
 
Lots of people I've spoken to about getting vaccinated fall into one of these categories -
  • Give me the jab
  • mRNA technology isn't old enough to understand if there are any long term risks/side effects
  • l'm under 60, if l get Covid-19, l have a 99% chance of surviving
  • AZ gives people blood clots, Moderna/Pfizer heart issues
  • I'll wait for the Novavax vaccine
  • l'm don't believe in vaccines
  • Covid-19 came from a lab in Wuhan, f 'em, l ain't getting no jab
  • Bill Gates, 5G, Micro-Chips, NWO
That seems to be the range of experience I'm seeing both on social media and talking to colleagues. It's good to see many Aussies keen on getting the jab, hopefully we can turn this ship around before the rest of the world leaves us behind (e.g. USA, Canada, UK and elsewhere are boasting fully vaccinated rates of 40% or above, have opened things largely up with minimal effects on the healthcare system). The side effects and cost/benefit are all key questions to consider and is something a patient should have in consultation with their GP not from a Chief Health Officer who makes ridiculous statements like hoping an 18-year old would rather get COVID than the AstraZeneca jab.

In terms of people not believing in vaccines or thinking COVID can't affect them, that's their choice. It is of course a free country. However, they should not complain when they are excluded from activities or are inconvenienced because they didn't get the jab. It reminds me of the times I would return to Canada and get ugly looks from fellow Canadians as I bypassed immigration. I have a Nexus card, I had to apply for it, get interviewed by representatives from the US and Canadian immigration departments, get fingerprinted, iris scanned and background checked. I had to jump through a number of hoops but the benefit I get is not having to queue up all the time when I have to go through security or immigration in Canada/USA.

In terms of alternative vaccines like NovaVax, a key challenge will be determining if such vaccines are recognized by international authorities as each country has their own list of approved vaccines they consider when determining if someone is vaccinated (and hence can skip quarantine and other draconian requirements). In particular, I bring to everyone's attention the ongoing controversy with UK citizens vaccinated with AstraZeneca (COVIDShield) and their inability to bypass EU quarantine requirements as the vaccine isn't recognized as approved.

In terms of the tinfoil hat people, they always exist. I remember somewhat vividly the H1N1 epidemic that was occurring in Canada/USA at the time. Sure it wasn't as widespread or as deadly as COVID is today, but people were coughing and complaining about getting the vaccine and sure enough, the tinfoil hats came out of the woodwork to spread their conspiracy theories. And this was well before Twitter, Facebook and Youtube were as big as they are today. There will always be folks who believe the world is flat, vaccines contain microchips and Trump won the 2020 Presidential election. Let them spin around in their office chairs with their tinfoil hats strapped to their head!


One of my staff turned 40 today. He spent an hour or so online trying different hubs and GPs to find a Pfizer appointment, just submitted his leave request (my employer is giving leave to staff to get vaccinated) for 30th July, I just approved it.
This is why I mainly recommend folks look at the HotDoc service since it lets you drill into specific clinics and practices to find the ones offering the best availability. Case in point, there's a practice in Waterloo that's offering Pfizer jabs this Saturday. One thing I will also point out for those anxious to get the jab (be it Pfizer or AstraZeneca) is to watch this space regularly. As the commonwealth ships in more of these jabs we may all of a sudden see new clinics come online with appointments right away. Sometimes it may even make sense to wait a day or two if you aren't finding an appointment you like to see if a better one arrives.


29 yr old son had second AZ jab this week, at the 12 week mark after 1st jab. No aches, pains , headaches or fevers. Much happier this time around.
Had my AZ #2 about 3 hours ago. Shot through immediately afterwards. Stuff the waiting around.

Had no reaction at all to #1. Same so far with #2.

Fully 5G-compliant now. 🥳
That has been roughly my experience for both jabs. I'm a bit surprised. Aren't those minor side effects proof that the vaccine is working? Then again, I'm extremely keen on getting vaccines generally given my condition (got my flu jab in week 8 between the first and second dose of AZ), maybe I've just gotten used to it. I'm still seeing 4G on my iPhone right now, but in other news fetching cutlery from the dishwasher has gotten a whole lot easier now! 🤣

Your Trusty,

KangarooFlyer88
 
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This is why I mainly recommend folks look at the HotDoc service since it lets you drill into specific clinics and practices to find the ones offering the best availability.

So does the offical eligiblity checker. BTW as I posted on the other thread there are Pfizer appointments avialble within the next 2 days in Haberfield and Canterbury.
 
I have my second AZ jab tomorrow.Think I will use the JohnM strategy.Can always say I am needed back at the hospital. ;)

Just walk directly out. Nobody said anything to me. Even if they had, I would have said pfft. They can't enforce anything.

I've had a gutful of the catastrophising mentality of petty bureaucrats.

The only reason I stayed for 2 minutes after AZ #1 was to make an appointment for #2.
 
Great write-up @kangarooflyer88

While I agree anyone (other than kids) can have the jab (and I'm fortunately done being in the 40+ Pfizer group).

It's a tough choice if you're in the 20-39 group, particularly if in Sydney.

You could get AZ today with some partial protection, but waiting until ideally October for the 2nd and best immunity at the end of October. Plus the additional clot risks.

Or you can wait for Pfizer being expanded which might happen in September, and get two doses in 3wks, possibly giving you a quicker path to best (I won't say full) coverage.
 
Pfizer expansion if it happens in September could still be mid to late September for the first dose if you book in quickly and it’s unlikely to be open to all 20-39 at that point, but rather some of them. Whereas having had my first AZ a week ago, I’m due for my second at the end of September.

I would have needed assurances of getting the first dose in late August to have justified waiting if the aim is to be fully vaccinated ASAP.

If we were pushing to reopen borders ASAP we should be opening Pfizer up to people 60+ who have not yet had a dose next in my opinion. We need to get the 70+ fully vaccinated percentage up ASAP.
 
Great write-up @kangarooflyer88

While I agree anyone (other than kids) can have the jab (and I'm fortunately done being in the 40+ Pfizer group).

It's a tough choice if you're in the 20-39 group, particularly if in Sydney.

You could get AZ today with some partial protection, but waiting until ideally October for the 2nd and best immunity at the end of October. Plus the additional clot risks.

Or you can wait for Pfizer being expanded which might happen in September, and get two doses in 3wks, possibly giving you a quicker path to best (I won't say full) coverage.

Pfizer expansion if it happens in September could still be mid to late September for the first dose if you book in quickly and it’s unlikely to be open to all 20-39 at that point, but rather some of them. Whereas having had my first AZ a week ago, I’m due for my second at the end of September.

I would have needed assurances of getting the first dose in late August to have justified waiting if the aim is to be fully vaccinated ASAP.

If we were pushing to reopen borders ASAP we should be opening Pfizer up to people 60+ who have not yet had a dose next in my opinion. We need to get the 70+ fully vaccinated percentage up ASAP.
I think it really comes down to what age or group you are in (e.g. 40-60 or Phase 1a/1b). There are many folks in Greater Sydney and elsewhere in Australia for that matter that doesn't fit such criteria and the government has been less than clear about when this vulnerable group will be receiving Pfizer jabs. In particular, I refer you to the Prime Minister's remarks that he anticipates anyone who wants a COVID jab can get it by the end of the year. If we view availability for this group in that light, it could very well be an October or November timeline that you can get your first dose and possibly into early 2022 when you get your second dose and become fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, we've got AstraZeneca that's readily available for all age groups that you can get right now and have some protection. Yes, it's true you have to wait a bit longer for that second dose, but you'll have some protection for many months, even in the best-case scenario that you can get Pfizer in a month or two. At the same time, the guidance for AstraZeneca has changed to shorten the window from 12 weeks to 8 weeks meaning you're only looking at a 5-week difference between the first and second dose with AstraZeneca vs Pfizer which again you could easily be waiting for to get the first dose of Pfizer. Lastly, and something no one has talked about in Australia, but is being practiced in a number of countries is the practice of mixing doses. In other words you get AstraZeneca for your first dose and Pfizer for the second dose. In such a scenario you get the best of all worlds. You get immediate protection with AstraZeneca, and then you get the Pfizer chaser a couple weeks later to round out the protection. Another benefit of such approach is we can really stretch out how far those Pfizer doses can go. 10 million doses of Pfizer as it presently stands will only vaccinate 5 million of us if we use Pfizer for first and second dose. But if we went to this hybrid model of AstraZeneca/Pfizer those 10 million doses could ensure 10 million people are fully vaccinated.

Final thought here, the commonwealth have invested significant resources into CSL to ensure we could produce as much AstraZeneca as we want. I understand there may be some health concerns about AstraZeneca, and it may not be appropriate for everyone, but why is the commonwealth now saying they will "retire" AstraZeneca from the coughnal in October/November? Would it not make sense to keep production going? Even if we are successful in securing the necessary Pfizer/Moderna doses by then, wouldn't it not make sense to have this running as a backup plan, just in case? Even if we don't have to use those doses, don't you think other countries in need like Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand would be grateful for having access to such vaccines from us? What impact would making millions of doses of AstraZeneca available to Pacific island nations do for their health and well-being? What impact would such a gesture have on building the reputation and soft-power of Australia in the region? Some food for thought!

-KangarooFlyer88
 
Well, I'm off for my first AZ this afternoon. I'm 33, spoke to the GP who indicated he had no issues with me getting it.

Unfortunately as I'm not "technically" in the current rollout, I had to both book via phone (no option to book via HotDoc) AND get a letter from my GP indicating he believed it would be safe for me to get AZ. He's been our family physician for over 20 years and I would trust him with my life - but that's me, and I believe we all have the right to choose which (if any) vaccine we want to go for.

I'll report back in a few days on my experience.
 

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