Vaccination is a good protection for you, your family, and community but if you are still on the fence about it, it is best to seek information and get professional advice on it. In the other hand, if you are currently waiting for your vaccination appointment, here are some info on how to care for yourself or others after you got jab.
For your information, pregnant and breastfeeding moms can get vaccinated. By vaccine, we don’t mean just Covid-19 vaccines. In fact, there are a number of vaccines available to protect you from other harmful diseases.
What Happens During Vaccination?
At The Vaccination Centre.
The process of vaccinating does not take a lot of time nor is it complicated. At most, it will only take about an hour.
The Vaccination Process:
Covid-19 Vaccination Process.
1.Registration
You should come early but not too early, about 15 to 30 minutes early is good enough. Bring along your IC for registration at the vaccination centre.
2.Consultation
You’ll be brief about the vaccine you are taking and if you have any questions, this is the right moment to ask. You’ll also be given a consent form which you have to fill in.
3.Vaccination
After that, you’ll be vaccinated by the medical team.
4.Appointment
Upon vaccination, you’ll be given a date for your next appointment if the vaccine requires a second dose.
5.Observation
You will be guided to an observation area where you would have to wait about 30 minutes to observe any effects before you go home.
Other Vaccinations:
Other vaccination such as the TdAP vaccine or the flu vaccine only requires you to make appointment at the nearest healthcare provider.
Would You Need Someone to Accompany You?
If you are pregnant in your third trimester, and standing or walking is getting difficult for you, you may ask someone to accompany you to the vaccination centre.
You can contact the The Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) hotline 1800-888-828 to inquire about this or to adjust your vaccination date so it can match your spouse or parent.
What Should You Bring?
On the day of vaccination, you would only require your IC and your phone for check-in purposes.
Possible Side Effects.
Different people may experience different side effects and the severity of the effects also differs from one individual to another. For an expecting mother, these side effects may fill up your worry cup.
Here are side effects that you may experience after getting vaccinated. Bear in mind that not everyone experiences side effects and that does not mean that the vaccine is not working for you.
- Tiredness
- Headache
- Muscle Pain
- Chills
- Fever
- Nausea
How Long Before The Effects Kick In?
Vaccine Becoming Effective.
It would usually take our immune system about 2 weeks from the administration of the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to start responding. Then, the second dose of the vaccine will boost the system and strengthen it.
Side Effects.
As for the side effects, you will experience it within 1-2 days after getting your vaccine. Depending on how effective your immune system, it may take some time for you to heal from the side effects.
What To Do If You Are Experiencing Side Effects of Vaccines?
Side effects of vaccination is mostly mild. Severe cases occurs very rarely. There are three ways to combat the side effects at home.
1. Rest
Getting enough rest is important. As your body is being introduce to the virus, your body’s immunity is working hard to fight it while at the same time noting down the recipe to destroy the virus for future reference.
2. Keep Hydrated
Doctors recommend everyone who gets vaccinated to drink a lot of fluids. It is not necessarily have to be plain water.
3. Take Medications
You can take medications to relief the pain. For example, if you coming up with a fever, this is the time you should take some paracetamol.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/expect/after.html
Can I take Paracetamol?
This has been going around quite sometime but taking medicines before vaccination are not recommended.
Not your daily medicines, but medicines specifically to counter or prevent side effects such as ibuprofen, paracetamol, aspirin etc. These medicines should be taken after vaccination and only when you are experiencing the side effects!
For pregnant mothers, our advice is for you to personally ask your doctor about the medicines that you can and cannot take because each mother is different.
What Is Okay and When To Seek Help?
If you are experiencing the side effects listed above, then you do not have to fret about it. Those common mild symptoms that would usually go away after a few days. However, seek a doctor when:
1. Side Effects Does Not Go Away
If you observe that the effects are not slowing down or is taking more than 1 week to pass, you may need to go for checkup at your nearest healthcare provider.
2. Reaction At The Injection Site Gets Worse
Seek help immediately if you are experiencing redness or tenderness at the area where you got injected and it didn’t go away after 24 hours.
Care For Injected Arm?
Some may complain about their injected arm being sore after vaccination. This is actually quite common effect. You may also experience pain, swelling, redness at the area of injection.
This reaction are usually harmless and can be easily treated.
Treating Injection Site Reaction.
- Covering the area with a cool , wet cloth to sooth it.
- Applying cold compress to relief pain and redness.
- Exercise your arm to aid blood flow.
Tips:
1. Plan your day ahead.
You may want to plan your day during the vaccination date as you need to get there early. You would also need to rest for a few hours at least after vaccination. So, make sure to plan out all your tasks, chores, or work to be done before the day of vaccination or after.
2. Take the day off
If you are a working mom, you may want to take the day off during the date of your vaccination. Following the pandemic, some companies already provide leave for vaccination for the staffs. Therefore, check with your company.
These tips are for vaccinations in general and not for a specific vaccine. So, you can apply these after every vaccine that you are getting and enjoy your life with a strengthen immune system any other day!
