Registration for vaccinations in the 1st stage of the National Vaccination Program started on 15th January. In the beginning, vaccines will be given to seniors who are at least 80 years’ old. In USK at ul. Borowska, patients will receive Corminaty – a preparation produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.
‘I registered on the first day at 3 a.m. Nobody in my family, knock wood, has been infected so far,’ explains Janusz Ziółek, who was one of the first patients to have received the first dose of the vaccine in the first stage.
COVID-19 vaccinations. Thousands of registered patients
On Sunday afternoon, the Head of the Office of the Prime Minister Michał Dworczyk announced that there were no more vaccines and available vaccination dates, so further registration is suspended for the time being.
Edwin Kuźnik, M.D. adds that around 1,100 persons, including 240-270 seniors, are vaccinated in this facility every day. A vast majority of patients are still persons from Group 0 – employees of the health care sector.
How COVID-19 vaccinations take place
You can register for vaccination via the patient's portal, by calling the free infoline (phone number 989) or sending a text message (664 908 556), or in a healthy centre registered on the list of vaccination points (LIST).
After entering the hospital, the senior comes to the registration counter, shows his/her personal ID card and has his/her PESEL number confirmed. Then he/she enters one of the four qualification rooms with a filled-in health interview questionnaire, where the doctor analyses the patient’s condition.
‘It is important, for example, to determine whether the patient did not receive a positive result for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the preceding year and whether they have had no symptoms indicative of COVID-19 during the last two weeks; apart from that, the doctor asks the patient about their potential allergies and the drugs they take, particularly anticoagulant drugs,’ stresses Edwin Kuźnik, M.D.
Taking some anticoagulant drugs makes it impossible to become vaccinated against COVID-19. The same goes for drugs that impair immunity and oncological patients undergoing chemotherapy. ‘We should also consider the patient’s current situation – for example, an exacerbation of the respiratory syndrome or heart failure. In such a situation, the vaccination has to be postponed. Any doubts can be consulted with the doctor.’
The hospital requests seniors to bring their medical documentation and the list of drugs they take; if they cannot prepare such a list, they can bring packages.
When the senior becomes qualified to receive the preparation, he/she goes to the vaccination point, where he/she receives an information sheet with the date of receipt of another dose. Then his/her clinical condition is observed for 15 minutes; if nothing happens, the senior goes home.
Altogether, over 13,000 persons were vaccinated in USK in Wroclaw, with undesirable post-vaccination reactions occurring in five of them. However, they were not dangerous to their life and health. ‘The vaccine is safe,’ assures Edwin Kuźnik, M.D.
A patient does not have to receive a vaccine on an empty stomach and should not postpone taking a regular medicine. In order to accelerate the procedure, doctors also ask patients to put on a loose sweater or T-shirt. The vaccine is injected into the left or right arm.