Sunday's Excursion - Getting My Covid-19 Vaccination

Sunday morning I made sure to wear a t-shirt that would make getting my Covid vaccination easy, and left for the southern suburbs an hour or so before my appointment time. I had scheduled myself in the second batch, figuring the kinks would be worked out by then. National Guard members were directing traffic and scanning our paperwork before we were allowed to enter the facility. 

My vaccination center was in the far south suburbs of the 
Twin Cities, about 20-25 minutes on the highway. The 
parking lot was packed. This is the corner of the 
building complex. From here, I had to turn to my
left and walk quite a long way to get to the entry doors. 

The facility, the practice facility for the Minnesota Vikings Football organization, is gorgeous. We were walking on plastic tarp placed over the artificial turf, and it was rather springy. The uncovered parts looked quite realistic. After visiting the "final bathroom available for you to use" before entering the cavernous room, and moving through a bit of zig-zag, I was told to stand in a particular location, and then to go ahead to the person at table #12. 

These signs were placed periodically along the 
route we needed to walk. It was quite the walk 
for those who had difficulty with mobility. I 
felt sorry for those whose hips were bothering 
them. There was no photography allowed 
inside (bummer) so I'm re-using two photos I 
showed you last week for the interior shots. 

The Registered Nurse was a delight. Very personable and fun to chat with. Since the location wasn't crowded and there weren't lines of people waiting, we had a chance to chat a bit. I did tell her I was needle-phobic (twice), so she had me concentrate on something to the right while she gave me my injection - almost painless. I thanked her, got my signed COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card, identified with the vaccine, the lot number, and her signature, and walked farther back to sit in a rather uncomfortable chair for 15 minutes. This was to make sure I wouldn't have a bad reaction or faint or some such thing. 

The room area extends as far behind as it does ahead. It's a 
huge facility with a full-sized football practice field within. 
Once you get into the room, you have to walk a U to get to the 
actual tables where people are administering the vaccines. 

After my 15 minutes was up, I gathered up my things, put on my coat, and headed back out into the wind to try and find my car in the sea of cars. Fortunately finding Minnion didn't take a super long time, and before long I was on my way home and heading to the grocery store to buy fixings for dinner for the next few nights. 

At the top of the U, a National Guard person would direct you 
to one of the front tables where your identity would be 
double-checked once again. That person would then assign
 you to one of the smaller tables you see at the upper back corner,  
each staffed by an RN or nurse practitioner who would administer 
the vaccine. It was extremely efficient, moved very 
quickly, and all in all, was a rather pleasant experience. 

I'm delighted I had the opportunity to get my Johnson & Johnson vaccination. I had wanted the J&J one because it is a single-dose vaccine, so I got lucky. Of course I would have accepted any of the three vaccines available, but it so happened to be the one I really wanted. I took the band-aid off today and took a look. It's almost impossible to see the injection location at all - so no swelling or reddening of the vaccination site for me. 

I now have this lovely COVID-19 Vaccination Record 
Card to remember this experience. It was a lovely day, 
blue skies and sunshine with a killer wind, and all in all, 
I was quite happy with the results. 

On that note, I'm heading out of here eating my breakfast and going to work soon. I hope all of you have a wonderful day filled with sunshine and happy chirping birds. It's almost looking like Spring up here in the Frozen Northlands, but I know that's a mirage. Just because we have a warm week ahead, doesn't mean there won't be more snow for us this winter. Still, it's nice to see blue skies and tolerable temperatures. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow, and please, be kind, stay safe and wear your mask.