Vaccination converts the risks of dangerous covid to be more like the risks of flu.
“As of Wednesday night (Jul 21), out of the 412 local COVID-19 cases reported in the last 28 days who had been fully vaccinated, all had mild or no symptoms.
In the partially vaccinated group, 0.7 per cent of patients who had received one dose of the vaccine required supplemental oxygen.
As for those who had not received any dose of the vaccine, 2.4 per cent of the 253 local cases developed serious illness, need oxygen supplementation or admission into intensive care units.” - CNA
This is quite apart from the higher likelihood to get infected in the first place, if we are not vaccinated.
This is especially important for our pioneer generation. They are used to being independent, and toughing things out. And many dislike the idea of seeing a doctor or getting vaccinated or medicated.
Some old folks are afraid of side effects.
Others are afraid their body can’t “take the strong effects of Western medicine” - they read Wechat or WhatsApp messages about this or that case, many of which are plain misinformation.
The vast majority have mild or no side effects for their 1st shot. This is particularly so for old folks.
The most common side effects are sore spot or pain at the injection site for 1-3 days.
The next most common side effects are fever, headache, tiredness - these are signs that our immune system have started their training to recognise the spike of the virus.
For the 2nd shot, we see more and stronger side effects, esp for the younger people below 60, and among our young adults.
It is partly related to the stronger immune response of younger people.
It is a sign that they most probably have very good protection from the vigorous training.
Few old folks above 70 years old have strong side effects like the younger 20 year olds.
Having other illnesses doesn’t make it more dangerous or more troubling to have vaccination.
In fact, having other illnesses makes it even more important to be vaccinated. Old age plus other illnesses make Covid highly dangerous for them if they are not protected hy vaccination.
When we go for vaccination, we must go through a medical review at the vaccination centre or polyclinic.
There, we are asked questions to check our suitability. There, we can ask questions too.
And we can always decline if we are still uncomfortable.
Please remember to keep the information leaflet that we are given to tell us about the vaccine we are getting.
One important information is the QR code to enable us to report any unusual side effects or medical conditions after vaccination.
Suppose we think we had heart palpitations, chest pains, breathlessness, or other unusual sensations during the 1st few days after vaccination.
This could be due to the inflammation of the heart muscle or heart membrane.
This is a known but rare condition esp for younger adult males from the Pfizer covid vaccines. This usually happens within 4 days from day of vaccination, typically after the 2nd shot.
Please do 2 things if anything unusual like that happens within the 1st few days, and up to 2-3 weeks.
First, go report to the HSA adverse reaction tracking using the QR code on the vaccine information leaflet.
Second, go see your doctor to check up on your symptoms. It could be a coincidence, or the vaccine could have tipped us over when we have some unknown underlying condition.
It is important to let the doctor know you have had vaccination and when.
The doctors are required to report any suspected adverse reactions to MOH.
But first investigation the cause of any serious unusual symptoms. Early diagnosis could save more trouble later.
It may be a blessing in disguise to get us to get an investigation or diagnosis early to treat an unknown condition like a blocked artery.
Then we next apply for financial review.
MOH reviews based on whether the condition is related to vaccination, and whether it is permanent or temporary condition, and whether it requires hospitalisation or not.
Whether the condition is related to vaccination or not, also depends on medical science knowledge.
Remember cases well before covid when fit and healthy adults in their prime could suddenly have a heart attack or heart seizure and die. Sometimes, that happens to a young adult, in the middle of an exercise. Sometimes, it seems to happen out of the blue.
So not having any symptoms before, or having a fit and healthy life before, is no guarantee that we do not have some underlying unknown but dangerous condition.
For example, if we trip and fall after a vaccination, few people would link that to vaccination.
In the same way, medical experts from the different specialties like heart, brain immune system, and so on, will review each case to determine if there is any medical basis to associate a condition with the vaccination.
It is through such adverse events reporting and medical review that we can begin to spot rare conditions like the inflammation of the heart muscle or heart membrane.
So even if we feel fine a couple of weeks after feeling some troubled symptoms which bugged us, go see our GP and get a referral to see a specialist for more detailed assessment.
Even if it is not related to vaccination, it helps us find out if there are other medical issues which we should treat sooner than later.
And children, parents, siblings, and spouses can play our role to nag and remind our loved ones to go see a doctor to get a read.
Staying home and not going out is no guarantee that the virus won’t hop, skip and jump into our homes.
So let’s help save our pioneer generation from the grief of an covid infection.
Let’s help them go for their vaccination.
Even one shot is better than nothing in terms of protecting them from severe illness or worse.
Let’s see if we can get 75%, 80% and 80% of our old folks vaccinated.
“As of Wednesday night (Jul 21), out of the 412 local COVID-19 cases reported in the last 28 days who had been fully vaccinated, all had mild or no symptoms.
In the partially vaccinated group, 0.7 per cent of patients who had received one dose of the vaccine required supplemental oxygen.
As for those who had not received any dose of the vaccine, 2.4 per cent of the 253 local cases developed serious illness, need oxygen supplementation or admission into intensive care units.” - CNA
This is quite apart from the higher likelihood to get infected in the first place, if we are not vaccinated.
This is especially important for our pioneer generation. They are used to being independent, and toughing things out. And many dislike the idea of seeing a doctor or getting vaccinated or medicated.
Some old folks are afraid of side effects.
Others are afraid their body can’t “take the strong effects of Western medicine” - they read Wechat or WhatsApp messages about this or that case, many of which are plain misinformation.
The vast majority have mild or no side effects for their 1st shot. This is particularly so for old folks.
The most common side effects are sore spot or pain at the injection site for 1-3 days.
The next most common side effects are fever, headache, tiredness - these are signs that our immune system have started their training to recognise the spike of the virus.
For the 2nd shot, we see more and stronger side effects, esp for the younger people below 60, and among our young adults.
It is partly related to the stronger immune response of younger people.
It is a sign that they most probably have very good protection from the vigorous training.
Few old folks above 70 years old have strong side effects like the younger 20 year olds.
Having other illnesses doesn’t make it more dangerous or more troubling to have vaccination.
In fact, having other illnesses makes it even more important to be vaccinated. Old age plus other illnesses make Covid highly dangerous for them if they are not protected hy vaccination.
When we go for vaccination, we must go through a medical review at the vaccination centre or polyclinic.
There, we are asked questions to check our suitability. There, we can ask questions too.
And we can always decline if we are still uncomfortable.
Please remember to keep the information leaflet that we are given to tell us about the vaccine we are getting.
One important information is the QR code to enable us to report any unusual side effects or medical conditions after vaccination.
Suppose we think we had heart palpitations, chest pains, breathlessness, or other unusual sensations during the 1st few days after vaccination.
This could be due to the inflammation of the heart muscle or heart membrane.
This is a known but rare condition esp for younger adult males from the Pfizer covid vaccines. This usually happens within 4 days from day of vaccination, typically after the 2nd shot.
Please do 2 things if anything unusual like that happens within the 1st few days, and up to 2-3 weeks.
First, go report to the HSA adverse reaction tracking using the QR code on the vaccine information leaflet.
Second, go see your doctor to check up on your symptoms. It could be a coincidence, or the vaccine could have tipped us over when we have some unknown underlying condition.
It is important to let the doctor know you have had vaccination and when.
The doctors are required to report any suspected adverse reactions to MOH.
But first investigation the cause of any serious unusual symptoms. Early diagnosis could save more trouble later.
It may be a blessing in disguise to get us to get an investigation or diagnosis early to treat an unknown condition like a blocked artery.
Then we next apply for financial review.
MOH reviews based on whether the condition is related to vaccination, and whether it is permanent or temporary condition, and whether it requires hospitalisation or not.
Whether the condition is related to vaccination or not, also depends on medical science knowledge.
Remember cases well before covid when fit and healthy adults in their prime could suddenly have a heart attack or heart seizure and die. Sometimes, that happens to a young adult, in the middle of an exercise. Sometimes, it seems to happen out of the blue.
So not having any symptoms before, or having a fit and healthy life before, is no guarantee that we do not have some underlying unknown but dangerous condition.
For example, if we trip and fall after a vaccination, few people would link that to vaccination.
In the same way, medical experts from the different specialties like heart, brain immune system, and so on, will review each case to determine if there is any medical basis to associate a condition with the vaccination.
It is through such adverse events reporting and medical review that we can begin to spot rare conditions like the inflammation of the heart muscle or heart membrane.
So even if we feel fine a couple of weeks after feeling some troubled symptoms which bugged us, go see our GP and get a referral to see a specialist for more detailed assessment.
Even if it is not related to vaccination, it helps us find out if there are other medical issues which we should treat sooner than later.
And children, parents, siblings, and spouses can play our role to nag and remind our loved ones to go see a doctor to get a read.
Staying home and not going out is no guarantee that the virus won’t hop, skip and jump into our homes.
So let’s help save our pioneer generation from the grief of an covid infection.
Let’s help them go for their vaccination.
Even one shot is better than nothing in terms of protecting them from severe illness or worse.
Let’s see if we can get 75%, 80% and 80% of our old folks vaccinated.
