After over a year of on-and-off quarantine, Debo and I finally completed our Covid-19 vaccination cycles. The distribution of vaccines in Italy was relatively organized, but was naturally subjected to some typical Italian things — bureaucracy, analog organization, and delays.

Our vaccination journey began mid-February, when it was announced that Abruzzo would include PhD candidates as part of the education priority list for the vaccines. As quickly as possible, both of us enrolled to the program, utilizing our national healthcare card numbers. Around us, some other people from the GSSI also signed up, but several others did not.

To our surprise, we received text messages and emails on the evening of March 1 telling us to head to the vaccination center at 17:40 the following day. I certainly did not expect to be called so soon, and we were both somewhat skeptical that everything would actually work out that day. That vaccination center is a former retirement home and, on March 2, 16:35, we took L’Aquila’s 6S bus to reach it.

The place was rather small and there were very few people around. We walked directly to the reception, informed them of our appointment and handed in the forms they asked us to fill in.

For me, there was no problems. After a quick recap with a doctor, I received my first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

I was still rocking the pandemic haircut.

However, Debo was not allowed to take AstraZeneca. Because of her type 1 diabetes, the doctor reviewing her forms said that she should instead register as a “hyper-fragile” individual and receive Pfizer doses, which at the time were considered more effective and less prone to side-effects. Unfortunately, they did not have Pfizer doses available, and it was uncertain when they would come. Maybe April, they said. Just register and wait for a notification.

The following day I had a mild fever and felt generally exhausted, but aside from that there were no major side effects. Debo registered for the hyper-fragile doses and — from then, all we could do was to wait. Luckily, throughout the month of March, almost everyone around us also got their first doses of AstraZeneca, helping form a protective circle around Debo. But then April came and went and, by early May, no news yet.

It was Debo’s local endocrinologist who helped us out. Debo messaged her saying that she had not yet received the vaccine, and the doctor responded that all the diabetic people should already have received their first dose. Shortly after, we were told to go to a place called San Vittorino on the following Monday, May 10.

Debo in queue for her first dose.

San Vittorino is a small village in the outskirts of L’Aquila and a new vaccination center was established at a community college there. It’s quite a bit further than the previous location, but luckily there is also a bus to get us there. This time, there was a long queue of people waiting to get in, and the sun was just hot enough to make the lack of shade a pretty big problem. Despite all that, Debo was called in with a 15-20 minute delay and, from that point, all proceeded without issue.

There was some confusion regarding the date of her second dose. Initially, she received a message informing to return on June 15; a few days later, the date was changed to May 31. The day before that, Debo received a call informing her that the date shifted to June 2 — which is a national holiday here in Italy. Aside from the call, no message or email was received, so we were skeptical about that information and headed to the vaccination center anyway, but there were no doses of Pfizer available, so no matter what we tried or said, there was no way she would get the vaccine.

Because of the holiday, we couldn’t rely on buses to reach the vaccination center on June 2. Luckily, one colleague of ours has a car and was willing to drive us there, for which we are quite grateful. This day was not so hot, but it was also raining, so again we can’t catch a break. Her schedule was at 15:20, and we reached around 15:00, so everything seemed fine. I also asked someone from the staff to ensure Debo’s name was on the list, and it was. However, at that point, they were taking in people from the 14:00 schedule, so the delay was much more than we expected. Her second dose was received at 16:28.

Debo getting her second dose.

When we got back to our friend’s car to return home, another surprise: the car’s battery was completely drained, and it wouldn’t start. We tried pushing the car to start it, to no avail, and after running around the whole area asking people, we finally found one man who had a jumpstart kit in his trunk and was able to get us going! A bit too much adventure for a situation like this, for my taste.

My second dose was another mystery. Everyone else received a message shortly after the first dose informing about the second date, but I received nothing. Only on May 18 I received a message telling me to go on May 25. But then I also received delays, first to June 3 and then to June 5. Finally, my vaccination cycle was completed on that Saturday.

On my second dose, and on both of Debo’s doses, we didn’t experience any notable side effects. There was some pain near the injection point, and perhaps we had an extremely mild fever that did not really affect us the following day. Aside from that, we were absolutely fine and it did not hinder our days.

Me right after my second dose.

Being vaccinated is certainly a huge relief — of course we must still take measures to avoid being infected and infecting others, but we can know that the chances of that happening are very low. With these vaccines, we will be able to apply for Europe’s Digital Green Certificate, which will allow us to freely travel between the borders of the EU, coming at a good time for the summer.

Over the next few weeks, I plan on recapitulating some of the previous trips we took in Europe, including some nice maps, photos and culinary comments from Debo!