For the benefit of anyone who hasn’t had the jab yet, they make you wait for 15 minutes before you can leave the vaccination centre.
Plastic chairs are arranged in a social distancing pattern in the large reception area and that’s where you sit while the big clock on the wall ticks the minutes away.
And the fact is 15 minutes is a relatively long time to be sitting there, doing nothing.
The upside of course is that it’s plenty of time to think about what you have done, which in my case was to get the jab for the second time.
So that’s two shots of AstraZeneca, and we all know what they have been saying about this particular vaccine.
The nurse who administered the vaccine this morning raised her eyebrows when I told her that I had kept my appointment with some trepidation.
I told her that the government changing the rules last week, mandating that people under 60 would not have to take AstraZeneca had given me cause for concern.
Of course it did not help that the first headline I read this morning when I checked out the news online was about concerns of the long term effects of AstraZeneca.
I didn’t click on the story because I decided that true or not it would not have helped my demeanour heading down to the Queen Street clinic in Campbelltown.
So, more thinking, of facts this time.
First jab of AstraZeneca back in April – all good, not a single negative reaction – tick.
There has not been a single adverse reaction from anyone receiving the second shot of AstraZeneca – tick.
And last night in a conversation with the wife we weighed up the risks versus the benefits of being fully vaccinated against this virus. The benefits won handsomely, so another tick.
Finally, what about the risk of getting killed any time you leave the house, maybe in a car crash or whatever. Heck, you could get killed in your house if a big tree crashes onto it – one more tick.
OK, the nurse advised me to keep a look out for any side effects, such as chest pains, headaches, being short of breath and so on for the next seven days.
But walking out of the clinic this morning after my second vaccine jab I felt nothing but elation that I had overcome my fears.
And one more thing: I do not expect to be rewarded by the government for getting fully vaccinated, as some people are demanding.
My reward is knowing that if I catch the virus I will not get as sick as I would have if I chickened out this morning.
