My COVID-19 vaccination, part 3

Since my last post on this subject there have been further changes. In Germany 71% of people are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (two doses) which is good news. The precentage is higher than it was when I wrote about this the last time (53% at that time) but given that it has been about four months since then the rate of increase looks more like a trickle. A new focus of attention in now the booster and in that area there has been more dynamics. At the moment 38.5% of Germans have had the booster. Yesterday my wife and I had our third vaccination. This time it was with the vaccine of Moderna, which means that we have now tried all the usual flavours of the vaccination available here. The reason for our choice is similar to that for choosing AstraZeneca the first time. At the moment Moderna is unpopular compared to Biontech among many people and this has has led to differences in availability. We had an appointment in February but given the possible threat of the omicron variant and a change in the recommendations we decided to try to get vaccinated earlier. In terms of efficacy and safety we did not see a big difference between the Biontech and Moderna vaccines. The way to fulfilling the desire of an earlier appointment came through the local newspaper we subscribe to, the Allgemeine Zeitung. A lot of the news items I see there are old for me, since I have already read about the themes online. What the paper is useful for is local news. There I read about the initiative of Mathias Umlauf, a young doctor who has set up a private vaccination centre in Hechtsheim, a part of Mainz which is not far from where we live. It was easy to get an appointment there and we could choose the time freely. There only the vaccine of Moderna is used, due to its easy availability. The vaccination does not cost the patient anything. The whole process is very well organized and involves very little bureaucracy or waiting time. According to the information on the web page over 36000 vaccinations have been carried out there, which amounts to 16,9% of the population of Mainz. I am very impressed by what has been achieved there, especially in comparison with the official vaccination centre in Mainz, which does not seem to have been so dynamic. So let me say at this point: thank you Dr. Umlauf. Concerning side effects the only thing I noticed was a slight sensitivity of the arm to pressure during the night but it was really slight, significantly less than I experienced with the last vaccination and even that was a minor effect. Neither my wife nor I have experienced any other negative effects. We are happy to have reached this stage. Of course nobody knows what the further development of the pandemic will be but we are happy in the knowledge that we have done everything in our power to protect ourselves and to contribute to protecting others around us.

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