Trypanophobia: an extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles.
I wouldn’t call myself trypanophobic, but I am not over
enamoured of people sticking needles in me. I am happier with being jabbed for
the purpose of inoculation or vaccination than I am for having blood drawn.
It isn’t so much needle going into the vein that is the problem
- although having experienced ‘shy’ veins on more than one occasion and had phlebotomists
in despair at finding one suitable to take a sample from, being repeatedly and
unsuccessfully jabbed is not my idea of fun – rather it is the sensation (real
or illusionary) of blood being drawn that I have the problem with.
The only time that I donated blood was when I was in my
early twenties and must be the source of my problem. I can recall that the
throbbing sensation in my arm was sufficiently discomforting to put me off
repeating the procedure. I have a similar problem with having my blood pressure
taken; the prospect of and actual feeling of the blood pumping in my veins
makes me very uptight and I am sure that is why, whenever I have my blood
pressure taken, it takes at least three attempts before the doctor or nurse is
satisfied that I am not in need of immediate hospitalisation.
I went for a routine blood test yesterday, which passed off
without any drama, and apart from the ‘shy’ vein incident, the only other time
I have had any sort of problem with a needle going in was when I had a seasickness
jab, the first time I went on a cruise. The injection –a large dose of
anti-histamine – was administered in the buttock. If you ever have a similar
injection, I recommend wriggling your toes while it is given as it is quite
uncomfortable.
Tomorrow I am going for my first coronavirus vaccination, a
little earlier than I expected. When the vaccination process began, the online
calculator, which you can find at https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/vaccine-queue-uk,
suggested that I would get my first dose at the beginning of April. With the
pace of the programme, I thought that this would come forward to mid-March, but Val had a message from a friend who is the same age as us,
and who works in a pharmacy. She had booked her vaccination, so we went to the
NHS website on Friday, and booked our jabs at the ExCel Centre in Docklands.
The booking
process was really simple and easy, and from what I have been told by other
people, the actual vaccination process is pretty slick too. Side effects
reported from people I know who have had the jab range from a brief soreness in
the arm, to nasty flu-like symptoms lasting a couple of days. The phlebotomist
I saw on Saturday told me that she was unwell for a day. That’s not something
that I relish, but we’ll see.
At the time of
writing, 19.9million people in the UK have been vaccinated, albeit that only
736,000 have had both doses. With immunity supposedly only conferred a few
weeks after the second injection, there is still a long way to go, and it is
not until May that Val and I get our second doses. Once we all have had our
second doses, we should begin to return to a version of normality, but there
will need to be adjustments.
Much talked
about is the possible vaccine passport, which has its pros and cons, and raises
questions. I think it more likely that a vaccine passport would be required for
international travel than for domestic use. International travellers are used to
having to have a certificate to prove having had a vaccination against yellow
fever, for instance, while vaccinations against cholera, hepatitis, and diphtheria
are advisable, if not compulsory for travel to certain countries.
Some destinations
may only be accessible to British holidaymakers with proof of vaccination: the Greek
Prime Minister has said as much, for one. Entering Covid vaccination details
may become as commonplace when booking a flight, or a hotel abroad, as entering
a passport number is at present, and I find it difficult to see any reason why
anyone would have an issue with that. Some people would object, no doubt, perhaps
on the grounds that the vaccine is not mandatory in the UK, but then again, overseas
travel and foreign holidays are not a right, and if another sovereign country
wants to make a vaccination certificate a condition of entry, then that is their
prerogative.
More
contentious, however, would be a vaccination certificate for domestic use. Some
people object strongly; Ian Brown of the band, The Stone Roses, is one.
Vaccines
minister Nadhim Zahawi has said that the government was looking at the technology
necessary to create vaccine passports, but he has also insisted that it isn’t
the government’s plan to introduce them. He has said that one reason for not implementing
them would be that the vaccine itself is not mandatory; he also said that
passports would be discriminatory and wasn’t clear what impact they would have
on the transmission of the virus. All very confusing, but understandably so, it’s
not a straightforward issue.
The question
of technology should be straight forward to address. For smartphone users, a digital
certificate could be a simple extension of the existing NHS app, or the Covid
app, the cost of which is expected to reach £35million: adding extra functionality
to hold a digital certificate should be relatively inexpensive. For those
without a smartphone, a physical alternative ought not to be beyond the wit of
man.
Of more
concern would be how vaccine certificates would be used. Critics say that their
introduction would be an infringement of civil liberties, and it is easy to see
that certificates could lead to a sort of health-based apartheid. Imagine not
being able to go to a restaurant, or the cinema, the pub or a football match,
simply for the want of a vaccine certificate?
Back in the
day, underage drinkers would borrow an older sibling’s ID to get into a pub and,
and fake ID is undoubtedly still used today, so there’s every reason to suppose
that fake or forged certificates would be created. Equally, sympathetic door
staff might admit uncertified customers to venues, either for a financial
consideration or simply because they were known to them.
Covid has
inspired any number of conspiracy theories, too many to list here, but the
supposed nanotechnology in the vaccine is a major one. This tweet, claiming
that the vaccine will facilitate time travel is simply mind-boggling however, and it is not a spoof. (Time travel? Why? would be my first question).
In less than
twenty-four hours I will have my first vaccination. When I’ve had my second, I’d
be happy to have, and produce when needed, some sort of certificate. Ian
Brown and Dr Naomi Wolf would probably see me as a sheep, but who knows,
perhaps I’ll be a time-travelling sheep who is able to go to concerts and
football matches. Maybe I can get a ticket for Live Aid, or the 1966 World Cup
Final.
Picture of Shaun The Sheep and Tardis by Runa on Threads magazine https://www.threadsmagazine.com/readerproject/2009/02/10/tardis-quilt
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