It was also moving reasonably fast. Several of my friends had already been vaccinated, either because they were at risk or took part in a trial. Although I was very happy for them, I can’t deny that I was also envious. With the growing number of cases caused by the Delta-variant, I started to check this calculator, which tells you when you can expect to receive your jab according to your age and previous health conditions. I watched how the date jumped from May, to early June, to July and was disappointed every time the approximate date was pushed back. That was until I saw a post on a university Facebook group - used to sell and buy tickets to events pre-Covid - advertising a walk-in centre at a library. At the time, only people over 30 were eligible to book a vaccination appointment, but this mobile unit gave out jabs to anyone over 18, without appointment: all you had to do was show up. I immediately knew that I had to go; it was the opportunity I had been waiting for. So I quickly threw a book, some water, and a snack into a bag and made my way to the library. It was mid-exam season, and my unvaccinated housemates were busy doing revision and could therefore not join me. My uber driver dropped me at the front of an already massive queue, so I had to make my way all the way to the back, walking past people who already looked tired of waiting. When I arrived at the back of the queue, I called my mum to tell her the exciting news and told her that I would get back to her as soon as I had got the jab, which would probably take at least two hours from the look of the queue. In hindsight, saying two hours was very optimistic: those two hours ended up being four.
More and more people started arriving, and the queue steadily grew longer and longer. Most people looked like university students, which is not surprising considered that the walk-in was advertised on a university-wide group. After the first hour, I had maybe moved 20m, it was now noon, after weeks of rain the sun had come out and it started to be very warm, but I and seemingly everyone else was determined to stay while the queue still kept growing. I passed my time reading and listening to podcasts and I did not really mind waiting; I was too excited for the jab. But after two hours of standing almost completely still, I started to feel a pain in my back I usually associate with going to concerts and have therefore not felt in a long time, still I stayed in the agonisingly slowly moving queue. If anyone had told me this a year ago, I probably would have laughed and even in the moment it felt quite surreal.
After three hours, I was yet again reminded of a concert when the owner of a small takeaway along the road took it upon himself to hand out water bottles to everyone in the queue. Seeing the community come together like this in times of need was moving. With still no shade in sight, I was grateful for the refreshment as I had already emptied my water bottle. Soon people started to sit down and I joined them, the back pain was getting too much. Despite the heat, thirst, and growing boredom, no one complained and just patiently waited for their turn.
It was truly amazing to see what, especially young people in this case, were prepared to do to get back to some kind of normality. No one complained and just waited patiently for their turn. Unfortunately the queue had to be cut off at 2 o’clock (the walk-in was supposed to be open until six) because there were too many people and not enough jabs. At three, my time had finally come and I stepped into a tiny van where a friendly nurse – who had probably already vaccinated around 100 people before me – gave me the jab. The actual vaccination took about 2 minutes. I was handed proof of vaccination, a ‘I’ve had my Covid Vaccination’ sticker, and after 15 minutes of waiting time, I made my way home, tired, sunburnt, but extremely happy and grateful for the vaccination. As I’m writing this, people my age are officially eligible to book their appointment and waiting until now would certainly have been easier but I would do it again, despite the queue.
When I went for my first post-vaccination covid test at uni and it was quite exciting to select ‘yes, 1 dose’ instead of ‘no’ when asked if I had had the jab. For the first time in a while, it truly felt as if the end was near.
