Having waited for several months, I received my first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine on May 31. Several months ago, the Malaysian government opened up AstraZeneca for voluntary take-up due to the public’s health concerns. I registered immediately as I knew the chance of developing blood clot is four in one million and I saw the situation in UK started to see a recovery. And I received one of the 260,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine made available for Malaysian citizens, who took up all doses within several hours.
Perhaps I made it a habit since university days to always look at what is going on in overseas, I have always been very confident in English countries such as UK and US. I did not hesitate at all when I was registering for first round of AstraZeneca rollout, because I think that we have nothing to trust, if we don’t even trust UK vaccine. To put it simply, UK and Australia administer AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines for their citizens and both countries have opened matches for on-site viewers. In view of such progress, other countries need not wait anymore.
For the sake of a smooth vaccination, I increased protein and calcium intake one week before my vaccine appointment. And thankfully, I felt pretty mild tiredness and muscle stiffness and I recovered after taking some rest for two days.
Some might want to wait for Pfizer and would rather give up AstraZeneca. However, the trend from now until near future is that mixing of UK and US vaccines is possible. Therefore, AstraZeneca first and Pfizer second or the other way round, either way could be workable.
It was actually a deeper fear that prompted me to secure AstraZeneca vaccine: I am not confident if I can dodge coronavirus until 2022. Vaccines lower the chance of infection, even if infected, one would have mild or no symptoms. Furthermore, the chance of infecting others is also low. Another benefit of AstraZeneca vaccine is that it is very good at avoiding severe symptoms and death.
I heard that some Taiwanese wrote online comments to attack UK and US vaccines. It is very strange that they chose to overlook benefits of vaccination progress in UK, US and Israel.
I always stick to one principle: master English language so that you can always read UK and US website contents, write correct spelling to search for sport games, and you will see how glad it is to see fans returned to stadium to watch the games after restrictions have been relaxed.
Do seize the opportunity if you have a chance to be inoculated with UK or US vaccines. Vaccine is a very precious resource now. It is very challenging for the authorities to arrange vaccination appointments for the public. Please treasure it when you have a chance to be inoculated with UK or US vaccines.
After vaccination I will still stay at home as much as possible while waiting for the herd immunity moment when “until the storm is gone, we shall shrug off the shackles of destiny”.
By citing this line of Cantonese lyrics I’d like to wish Mr Wong Ka Kui a happy birthday.
等了好幾個月之後，我終於在5月31日接種了英國阿斯利康疫苗。早前馬來西亞政府因為民眾對阿斯利康疫苗有疑慮，於是開放報名讓自願接種的大馬公民登記。我一早就知道血栓問題大概是一百萬分之四，再加上英國疫情開始趨緩，我就馬上登記報名，於是我成了26萬劑第一劑阿斯利康疫苗的接種者之一。
也許是我從大學時代就養成了一直往外看的習慣，我自己多年來對英美這些英語國家非常有信心。我自己報名阿斯利康第一輪登記的時候其實是毫不猶豫，因為我的看法是：如果連英國疫苗都不可以相信，世界上大概沒有什麼可以相信了。簡單來說，施打阿斯利康和輝瑞的英國和澳洲都已經開放觀眾入場觀賞球場了，其他國家其實不需要再等待了。
為了順利接種疫苗，我在前一週故意多吃些東西，例如多攝取蛋白質和鈣質。施打疫苗之後，謝天謝地，除了些微疲累和筋骨有一點緊之外，我兩天內多休息就沒有不適感覺了。原先有人說想要等待輝瑞疫苗而不要登記阿斯利康，但現在到之後的趨勢可能是英美疫苗可以混打，先阿斯利康後輝瑞或者倒反過來，其實都行得通。
其實有一個更深層恐懼驅使我一定要爭取到阿斯利康疫苗：我沒有信心可以躲避這個病毒一直到2022年。疫苗降低感染機率，即使感染了，情況也會變成輕症或無症狀，而且再感染別人的機率也偏低。阿斯利康疫苗協助避免感染重症、避免死亡的功效也是非常好，這當然是一項利多。
聽說臺灣有人在網路上發文攻擊英美疫苗，完全無視英美以色列的疫苗效果而隨意抹黑疫苗，這其實是非常奇怪的事。我還是那句話，做人一定要掌握英文，隨便看英美網站、寫對英語拼字搜尋人家的球賽，你自然看到限制鬆綁後的觀眾可以放心入球場觀賽是多麼暢快的事。
若大家有機會施打英美疫苗，那就馬上施打吧。疫苗現在是非常珍貴的資源，公家機關好不容易安排到公眾施打疫苗，請大家務必珍惜。
現在接種疫苗後我也盡可能多留在家裡，靜靜地等待「期望暴雨飄去、便會衝破命運困鎖」的那一個集體免疫的時刻。僅藉這兩句歌詞對黃家駒先生說聲生日快樂。