Few days after the Sembah Kenal and Award Ceremony, we were informed to be vaccinated before the Freshman Induction Programme. At first, we were told to get the vaccinations at the local vaccination centres. However, there was a change as Miss Susie managed to book the vaccinations at MinDef Bolkiah Medical Reception Station (MRS). The next day, I was awoken by the ringing of my phone. It was Hanan! I answered the call, questioning as to why she called me. To my surprise, we were summoned to get our vaccinations that day at 10.15 AM! Then we proceed to wake the rest by calling them as well. I knew I was getting vaccinated soon but definitely did not expect it to be very soon.
At the venue, we filled in respective forms before getting vaccinated. After filling the forms, comes the waiting to receive the jab. While waiting, honestly, I was scared from all the side effects I heard! I wasn't terrified of the needles but the vaccine. One by one, we were called. Until it was my turn, I went into the room and greeted the doctor and the nurse. They were really assuring which comforted me quite a bit. He went through the information about the vaccine we were taking which is AstraZeneca. Consequently, the nurse proceeded to wipe my forearm with the alcohol swab and in goes the injection needle. It was unexpectedly not as painful as I imagined it to be! Just a few seconds in then I was done!
After the injection, I was ushered to the observation room by one of the military personnel. We were being observed for 15 minutes just in case of any reaction to the vaccine. While waiting for 15 minutes, we were briefed about the possible side effects and given a vaccination booklet and a form. We were told about the worst-case scenarios that has happened in Brunei such as severe breathing difficulty and vomiting. In all honesty, I was terrified hearing that but I too know that even a simple medication like paracetamol has its own side effects. Alhamdulillah, everyone did not have any allergy reaction within the 15 minutes observation. Then each of us were headed home.
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Throughout the day, I was feeling normal aside from the fact that the injection site was slightly sore. However, at night one of the side effects started to kick in; chills! My arm which was injected was also becoming sorer and more sensitive, in which I had to avoid sleeping on that side. After eating paracetamol, I was off to sleep. The next two days were similar and I had to take paracetamol to push aside the chills. Fortunately, day three was so much better and my arm was no longer sore. I had also asked the rest, if they had any side effects and they did except for Hanan. Raziq experienced fever, leg and arm weakness and slight headaches whereas Alya and Richmon had fever after the day of the vaccination. As a conclusion, everyone had differing range of side effects depending on one's antibodies and thankfully none of us experienced a severe fallout.
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