Vaccine resfuseniks are missing out - Karen Koren

I had my flu jab and my booster Covid jab at the same time the other day. It was out at the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston. It’s usually the venue for the Royal Highland Show, now where the elderly queue for their vaccine.
PIC LISA FERGUSON  04/02/2021



COVID 19, CORONA VIRUS - THE ROYAL HIGHLAND CENTRE OPENS TODAY AS A COVID VACINATION CENTRE/FACILITY



NHS Lothian opens third mass vaccination centre at Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston



 



A retired legal secretary was among the first in line today (wed) when the vaccination centre at the Royal Highland Centre opened its doors for the first time.



Elizabeth Anne Kirk, 68, from Linlithgow, was given the vaccine at the first of the vaccination centres on the site.



She said: “I’m very excited. I haven’t been going out much recently so I feel more relaxed having had the vaccine, although I’ll still be very careful.



“The whole process has been easy and well organised and the staff are very friendly, which is important. There really is nothing to worry about.”



The newest mass vaccination centre, the third in Lothian, is in the Members’ Pavilion which has nine vaccination stations available. It will be capable of vaccinating more than 1,000 people every day, seven days a week.



It will initially be staffed by vaccinators from NHS Lothian, before the British Armed Forces staff the centre for around two weeks. It will revert to the NHS vaccinators after more training and inductions are carried out to boost the ranks.PIC LISA FERGUSON  04/02/2021



COVID 19, CORONA VIRUS - THE ROYAL HIGHLAND CENTRE OPENS TODAY AS A COVID VACINATION CENTRE/FACILITY



NHS Lothian opens third mass vaccination centre at Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston



 



A retired legal secretary was among the first in line today (wed) when the vaccination centre at the Royal Highland Centre opened its doors for the first time.



Elizabeth Anne Kirk, 68, from Linlithgow, was given the vaccine at the first of the vaccination centres on the site.



She said: “I’m very excited. I haven’t been going out much recently so I feel more relaxed having had the vaccine, although I’ll still be very careful.



“The whole process has been easy and well organised and the staff are very friendly, which is important. There really is nothing to worry about.”



The newest mass vaccination centre, the third in Lothian, is in the Members’ Pavilion which has nine vaccination stations available. It will be capable of vaccinating more than 1,000 people every day, seven days a week.



It will initially be staffed by vaccinators from NHS Lothian, before the British Armed Forces staff the centre for around two weeks. It will revert to the NHS vaccinators after more training and inductions are carried out to boost the ranks.
PIC LISA FERGUSON 04/02/2021 COVID 19, CORONA VIRUS - THE ROYAL HIGHLAND CENTRE OPENS TODAY AS A COVID VACINATION CENTRE/FACILITY NHS Lothian opens third mass vaccination centre at Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston A retired legal secretary was among the first in line today (wed) when the vaccination centre at the Royal Highland Centre opened its doors for the first time. Elizabeth Anne Kirk, 68, from Linlithgow, was given the vaccine at the first of the vaccination centres on the site. She said: “I’m very excited. I haven’t been going out much recently so I feel more relaxed having had the vaccine, although I’ll still be very careful. “The whole process has been easy and well organised and the staff are very friendly, which is important. There really is nothing to worry about.” The newest mass vaccination centre, the third in Lothian, is in the Members’ Pavilion which has nine vaccination stations available. It will be capable of vaccinating more than 1,000 people every day, seven days a week. It will initially be staffed by vaccinators from NHS Lothian, before the British Armed Forces staff the centre for around two weeks. It will revert to the NHS vaccinators after more training and inductions are carried out to boost the ranks.

I have to say it was very well organised with volunteers helping all the doddery “auld yins” to navigate the huge premises as to where to go and what to do.

It appeared there was no method to the process – it was larger and busier than any passport control when queuing for hours to get into a country. Especially since the pandemic – it’s like being at war the amount of paperwork needed and what is required to enter of return from a country. Vaccine centres are much more organised.

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The helpful volunteers at the Royal Highland Centre, young and old, were friendly, polite and efficient. The volunteer pharmacist who gave me both jabs was chatty and thanked me for coming to get my jab, it made her job worthwhile.

It’s amazing to think that these volunteers work long hours, don’t get much of a break if at all and do not complain. We should be so thankful that they are there to help and make the process so easy.

They give you all the warnings of any side effects and I’m pleased to say apart from a sore arm I’m pretty free of any flu symptoms or temperature.

What I find hard to fathom is why some people will not take either the flu jab or the CoVid vaccine – it has been developed to keep us alive and will end up being an annual vaccine and life will go back to normality – so why not take it. We are going to have to live with Covid and the flu and we can do that with no ill effects if we take an annual vaccination. It’s incredible if you think about it how scientists have managed to develop preventative medicine and we should embrace their efforts and celebrate that we are privileged enough to be given the protection we need to keep living. I for one will keep on going as long as possible and take whatever vaccine is offered.

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