Vaccinations for the elderly over 65 years old finally started last month.
It seems that I, who will turn 65 this year, am also eligible for the vaccine, and I received a letter from Ryugasaki City in mid-April.
The invitation letter enclosed an information letter and an inoculation coupon.
The mass vaccination will be held at the Ryugasaki City General Gymnasium "Tatsunoko Arena" every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
However, it is by appointment only, so you cannot take it without an appointment.
According to the website of the city of Ryugasaki, the reservation period starts in late May. So it looks like I'll be able to get vaccinated in June at the earliest.
An acquaintance of mine told me that the vaccination had already started in Chiba Prefecture, and he was able to get an appointment for late May.
In the case of the city of Ryugasaki, appointments are made on LINE (the problem is that they were developed and maintained in China, and the information is stored in a data center in South Korea) and by phone.
The LINE application has been removed from my phone because of the above problem, so I have to make a reservation by phone, but the municipalities that have been accepting reservations ahead of time have been experiencing problems with phone lines being disconnected, or even if they are connected, they cannot accept reservations because they are full.
Even if I could get a reservation, the Ryugasaki City Gymnasium is far from my house and it would take me two hours to walk there. There is only one bus every hour and it takes 40 minutes to get there.
There are not many public transportation systems in Ibaraki, so many people have cars.
The total number of cars owned in the prefecture is 604.4 per 1,000 people.
The number of cars in Ryugasaki City is 540, which is fourth from the bottom in the prefecture, so it is on the low side. Even so, the city has 1.2 cars per household, making it a car-oriented society where households without cars are rare.
So the local government seems to be making decisions based on the assumption that people have cars.
We have no car at home.
That's because I don't use a car in my daily life.
Commuting is by train, and the station is a 7-minute walk away. Supermarkets, home centers, electronics stores, and Don Quijote are just a few minutes walk away, so no need for a car.
So it's inconvenient if you want to use the city's facilities that are designed to be used by cars.
The information says that the vaccination is being arranged to be given at medical institutions, so if a nearby medical institution is designated, I will go there.
Now the question is, should I get the vaccine?
I've never had a flu vaccine before.
There are several types of vaccines for the new coronavirus, but side effects have been reported. So, to be honest, I don't think I'll actively take it.
If vaccines and passports were to be issued and people were not allowed to travel abroad unless they had been vaccinated, I would have no choice but to get vaccinated.
Well, what should I do?
