[르포]Place a syringe on the deltoid muscle of the shoulder-“observe it for 3 hours after returning home”

At 8:38 am on the 26th, the Dobong-gu public health center in Seoul. Medical staff were checking the’list’ of the candidates for the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccination. Subjects who had scheduled vaccinations on that day measured their body temperature and finished hand disinfection. He sat in the waiting room for a while and waited for his turn. Inside the inoculation room, the reception-pregnant-inoculation-abnormal reaction observation flow was woven counterclockwise from the right.

The first inoculation was Kim Jeong-ok (54), director of Noah Rehabilitation Nursing Home. Nursing facility workers are eligible for the corona 19 vaccine first. Director Kim showed his ID card and completed the application. After that, I moved to Yejinsil and checked the name again. Medical staff asked about their intention to vaccinate Corona 19 and looked at their blood pressure and allergy experiences. Ten women in their 20s and 70s were waiting on the chair outside the inoculation room, keeping a distance.

After completing the preliminary examination, Director Kim moved to the inoculation room. The left shoulder was exposed. A medical staff, wearing medical gloves, pulled a vaccine vial from the vaccine compartment on the left. After disinfecting the lid surface with an alcohol disinfectant, a syringe was inserted. The syringe injected with the vaccine was removed and the vial was put back into the storage box. The syringe was accurately inoculated into the deltoid muscle of Kim’s shoulder. The inoculation time is about 7 to 8 seconds.

The medical staff guided me, “Press and release the disinfectant cotton for about 2 minutes.” Subsequently, adverse reactions such as swelling or heat were noted. It was also said that observation was necessary for 3 hours after returning home. If you still have a fever or symptoms after 3 days, you should go to the hospital. After vaccination, it is better to refrain from exercising and taking a bath. An inoculation confirmation letter was written along with the guidance that “the immunity will occur after two weeks” “A second vaccination is required after 8 weeks (April 23).

Director Kim said to the medical staff, “I have a question,” and asked, “After vaccination, the staff (in nursing facilities) can treat the elderly comfortably.” Then he said, “You just have to do your daily life (while keeping the quarantine rules).”

The vaccination of the waiting subjects went smoothly. Then, around 9:22, Director Kim complained of rumbling. Medical staff checked the pulse and blood pressure. A drop in blood pressure after vaccination was not a sign of danger or a problem. “If you are nervous, you may have hyperventilation.”

Director Kim said, “I was nervous yesterday, so I couldn’t sleep properly.” “I can’t take care of adults if there is something (like side effects). That’s the biggest worry. It was rumbling, but now it’s okay.” He said, “(the earliest vaccination day),’the number of confirmed cases in the UK has decreased by a quarter’. Expectations are high, saying,’Israel will take off its mask from April.’ You have to believe and inoculate.”

Oh Jeong-hwa, 45, an employee at Noah Nursing Home, who gave the second vaccination, said, “I talk about side effects, but I feel hope that I have given the vaccination.”

Park Sun-hee, doctor at Dobong-gu Health Center, said, “I hope that the vaccination continues in a safe environment. (What I care most about) is an allergic reaction,” he said. “Common things can be common and can be resolved over time. He said, “I’m doing well for you.”

“We are experiencing a difficult crisis situation, and the way to return to our daily life in this situation is to get the Corona 19 vaccine,” said Kim Sang-joon, head of the Do Bong-gu Health Center. Director Kim continued, “I am deeply impressed as a person in charge of local health since taking that first step. I hope that the people will return to their daily lives as soon as possible with the (vaccine vaccination) opportunity. Please actively participate in the vaccination.”

Reporter Minwook Kim [email protected]