Had to enter 'RED ZONE' to get vaccinated

[MrsKypp]

AstraZeneca blood clotting risk is bad enough without having been in the RED ZONE (big signs on the windows), sat on chair, breathed in air (was wearing a mask) vaccinated, opened door with handle to leave, no hand sanitiser - I might have missed it but certainly didn't see /use any.

Can you tell me anything to make me feel less scared? Thank you.

Counting 35 days off now. Sleepness nights ahead.

@MrsKypp Sounds similar to my surgery. The waiting room wasn’t designated as a “red zone” but I had to go into the section marked “red zone” to have my smear done. Loads of warning signs on the doors to that section!

It was a GP surgery

We don’t have Covid positive patients visiting the surgery I work in. Please phone the surgery and ask them about their zoning if you are concerned.

You have a level of protection after 22 days.

@steelserenade

I think you might be slightly overreacting.

Yes, hopefully.

It IS scary though to go through a door with RED ZONE in massive letters and with the windows covered in the same sign - during a pandemic.

Did make it feel a bit like a bio war zone. I am not medically trained and wasn't in full PPE (mask yes)

@Umbivalent

It takes three weeks for the jab to kick in, I thought?

Not exactly

There are different ways of measuring the effectiveness of the vaccine which probably starts to have an effect within the first 7 days.

The 21 day mark is when you see a sizable drop in the number of people testing +ve. But at 14 days you're already seeing a big reduction in serious illnesses.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/phe-monitoring-of-the-effectiveness-of-covid-19-vaccination

To understand this, at 14 days, people's immune systems were responding quickly enough to prevent serious disease, but NOT quickly enough to prevent a +ve test being given.

Confusion arises because people often believe vaccines stop viruses from infecting you - they don't - they simply speed up the immune response in getting rid of them.

I wonder if red zone refers to people coming in to be vaccinated and there is a green zone for other patients arriving for general appointments? If so they should probably have chosen different colours! Don’t worry OP actual proper red zones are taken very seriously. Also the vaccinator probably wiped the door handle after you left, the nurse told me they do this after every appointment when I had to see her recently.

[quote BunsyGirl]@MrsKypp Sounds similar to my surgery. The waiting room wasn’t designated as a “red zone” but I had to go into the section marked “red zone” to have my smear done. Loads of warning signs on the doors to that section![/quote]
Yes, that sounds similar. Hope you are ok x

@MrsKypp I am fine thanks. It was about a month fix Ironically the last time I entered the same area for my asthma check up in February 2020, I probably did have Covid. I just didn’t know it at the time!

*ago

Why don't you give the surgery a call. I'm sure they would be happy to tell you the zoning definitions.

In our hospital any patients with ?covid symptoms would be 'red pathway'. However the area would just get a clean in between unless there was aerosol generating procedures which would be incredibly unlikely in a gp surgery waiting room.

There's always a risk every time you leave the house but the risk would be from the people you were interacting with much more than the surface you touched. The best thing you can do to reduce the chances of suffering badly is getting the vaccine. If you maintained hand hygiene and wore your face covering you have done everything you can

@MrsKypp at our vaccination centre we have a red zone & a green zone. As you drive in you are asked if you are with the GP hub or "national" which I discovered meant you had booked on line or through 119. If you are from one of the GP surgeries you are "green" and go one way, otherwise you go to the red zone. Maybe it's something similar where you went? It won't be a Covid hot zone, I can promise you that.

AstraZeneca blood clotting risk is bad enough
No it isn't. 22 out of 17 million are good odds.

without having been in the RED ZONE (big signs on the windows),
Unless you are tested the surgery don't know you aren't covid positive, so can't let you into their other areas.

sat on chair, breathed in air (was wearing a mask) vaccinated opened door with handle to leave. To reassure you, none of those things are high risk.

no hand sanitiser - I might have missed it but certainly didn't see /use any I agree not ideal, but you would need to transfer any organisms to your mouth or nose for them to make you unwell. As long as you washed or sanitised your hands as soon as you could, and always after you remove your mask you should be safe.

Can you tell me anything to make me feel less scared? Thank you. Yes, you will be fine. Quite possibly feel achy and fluey tonight although not everyone does. Take paracetamol - up to 4 doses in 24 hours - to manage your symptoms & follow the advice in the bluey/purple leaflet.

Counting 35 days off now. Sleepness nights ahead. I'm sorry, I don't really understand this bit! But please try not to worry & I hope you have few side effects.

I had to take my 11 month old to the red Zoe at the GP last week 🙈 she had a fever & was refusing to eat for a couple days. GP was 99% certain it’d be something like tonsillitis (it was) but wanted to check her out. Due to the fever, she had to treat her as possible covid! It was fine, the rooms were immaculate & stank of disinfectant from the mornings regular clean. The GP also reassured me that the rooms are actually rarely used as if covid is at all suspected, the ask patients to test first. But in some cases where it appears reasonably clear it’s something else but there is a fever involved, you get red zoned!

We don’t don’t appear to have caught anything!

Hello again everyone who answered! Thank you for your helpful replies.

I feel much better about that now. It makes total sense that people going in for the vaccine could already be infected, so the zone had to be clearly labelled as RED ZONE as there were no checks before entering. All logical now!

I had lots of side effects - chills, fever etc, but better now. So happy I got the vaccine. Looking forward to part 2 in 3 months (not to the side effects though, but I've heard they're less second time for AstraZ).

Good luck everyone with things during these very difficult times.

Glad you are feeling better now