On August 1st I got my Coronavirus vaccination in Japan. I received my Coronavirus vaccination in Tokyo. This was my experience.

Getting my Coronavirus Vaccination In Japan, Tokyo metropolis, Koto ward

Applying

Invitation Letter from the City

Sometime in June I received a letter from my city hall that went over the procedure for applying online for the Corona Virus vaccination in Tokyo for my ward. Also the letter included my identification number for applying for the vaccination and the schedule for when different age groups were allowed to apply. Possibly every adult registered through the city hall with an address in my ward of Tokyo received these letters. It is also possible that being a member of the National Health Insurance program which is also administered through the local city hall, might have helped. Anyways, adult people registered already through their city hall as residents of that ward got these official invitation letters with the information and necessary documentation for the application through the city.

Other people that I know of who got their COVID 19 vaccination relatively quickly are people who are members of the staff or students at universities, colleges, and other well established educational institutions. Through their organizations they usually received the Moderna vaccine (some received the Pfizer, it just depends on their refrigeration ability and availability). Through my ward I received the Pfizer vaccine.

I waited for the official time to apply for people in my age range

My documentation specified when people in my age rage would be allowed to apply. First the elderly would be vaccinated. Then people 55 through 65 years old would be allowed to register and make appointments for their vaccinations. A week later people 45 through 54 would be allowed to register and so on. I could register in my age range beginning Sunday, July 11th, 2021. This was about three weeks after receiving the invitation letter. Of course people in their twenties would not have been able to apply until the end of July or the beginning of August.

Going to the website and selecting the available slots

Even though I applied online within ten minutes of the opening time, the earliest slot available to me was Sunday, August 1st, 2021; just at three weeks later. There were a variety of venues to choose from, all public Sport Centers. I could select a Sport Center near where I lived and review the available slots for registration. If one near where I lived was booked far into the future, I could choose a more obscure Sport Center, that would have earlier vaccination time slots. I ended up going to a place that was half way across my city. Luckily my ward is very bikable with many greenways going pretty near where I needed to go. Overall, I got there twenty minutes by bicycle on the day.

Preparing

The city mails out the essential documentation to be used on the day.

I received another letter full of documents to be filled out about a week after making the appointment and confirming my identity online with the special identification number sent with the application information. These documents included a paper confirming I didn’t have any allergies or aggravating medical conditions that needed to be filled out, my temperature on the day of my vaccination and a place for me to date and sign. There was also  a group of barcoded stickers to be put on the form indicating if it was my first or second vaccination. Everything was in Japanese. In fact all parts of this process until interacting with the people administering the shots was in Japanese.

Fill out the medical questionnaire and provide all information requested.

For the  COVID-19 vaccination I needed the stickers sent by the city hall, the medical and allergy questionnaire filled out, and identification such as a driver’s license, one id card, or foreigner registration card. In order to receive the COVID vaccination in Tokyo I needed to have all three of these things with me at the Sport Center. Without any one of these things when I arrived at the appointed time and place I would have been denied the vaccination. So the night before I was to get my vaccination I got everything collected and put into my travel satchel.

Going for my Coronavirus Vaccination In Tokyo

I got there about fifteen minutes early.

When I arrived at the appointed Sport Center someone at the front took my initial temperature, wrote a note saying my time slot, and showed me the red line on the floor for people to stand in line for the elevator going to the vaccination floor. It was on the third floor in my case. On that floor they divided us into our vaccination time slot groups.

We went to sit down in our group row of chairs and someone came over to make sure we had our appropriate documents. The staff called us over to have our documents inspected and anything incorrect or unusual was addressed. Then we went to separate cubicles where we heard about the potential side effects of the shot and given an paper with instructions and a telephone number in case we had any severe allergic reaction or side effects from the shot. Also they answered questions we had then.

Then I went to stand in line again to wait for an available nurse to give me Athena COVID-19 vaccination.
After a very short wait I went to a cubicle where a nurse warned me of the normal side effects and gave me a paper with the address of the hospital and telephone number to call in case of any very strong or unusual side effects. Then I pulled my shirt down my left arm and got the Pfizer vaccination. It was rather anti-climatically fast and painless. I had a little bit of a sting in my left shoulder, but it was over in less than a second. In fact I worried that I had gotten the vaccine because I was expecting something more… but nope. I know that I absolutely got the vaccine because the next day my shoulder was really sore!

After Getting My Coronavirus vaccination in Japan

Afterwards I waited in a line of chairs for about fifteen minutes to see if there was any bad reaction. The staff checked on me to make sure everything was OK, then I was free to go after the allotted time. Afterwards I went to buy some really yummy pastries for my wife and and kids at a local bakery that caught my eye on Google Maps. In total, from arriving at the Sport Center, going through processing, getting my vaccination, then waiting to make sure there wasn’t any bad reaction, it only took a little over forty-five minutes. If I had arrived on time I probably would have gone directly to my cohort, and so it would only have taken thirty minutes. But I naturally like to be early for things and hate the unnecessary stress of being rushed, so I am OK with a little longer time.

That day my shoulder was fine, but by the time to go to bed it was noticeably sore. The next day it was so sore that I found myself being really protective of anything rubbing against it. The nurse who gave me the vaccine had warned against massaging the soreness. The soreness was quite strong for couple of days. By the third day the soreness got a lot better. And by the fifth day I hardly noticed it anymore. I am told that the muscle cells producing antibodies to fight the perceived disease causes the soreness; which is a good thing. However, the full immunity effect of the vaccine isn’t for another eleven days after to vaccine was administered.

Image thanks to MaxPixel.Net

Related Items on Amazon.co.jp

Related Items in Amazon.com

Other Articles You Might Be Interested In