I think it’s time to have a thread separate from the Coronavirus Vaccine in Taiwan - May/June 2021 thread with exclusive INFO ABOUT HOW TO GET THE VACCINE [INCLUDING THE SECOND SHOT] so that anyone who wants to find that info quickly does not have to go through hundreds of irrelevant posts. I will copy some informative posts from the other thread over here.
Feel free to post links to helpful sites in Chinese and English.
PLEASE ONLY POST NEW INFORMATION ABOUT GETTING THE VACCINE HERE.
IF YOU WANT TO DISCUSS DO IT IN THE OTHER THREAD.
THANK YOU!!!
Maybe edit the top post to link the other thread about those who have already got the first jab under the canceled self-pay program, and are seeking the second shot? That thread is trying to do a similar job to this one, but for a slightly different group of people.
EDIT: here’s that other thread (which, inevitably, has become a fair bit of discussion, but I think it’s still focused enough to be useful to that subset of people):
MacKay now has updated information for those seeking the second dose of AstraZeneca. Huh, looks like if you go to their registration page, you can book for TOMORROW (20/100 slots taken in morning, 19/100 currently taken in afternoon). The Wednesday bookings are both about half full as I type this.
Implication is that you can only use this if you got the 1st dose at MacKay, but I may have that wrong.
Hmm. I’m considering registering for tomorrow and canceling the NTUH appointment I’ve got for Wednesday. BUT with semester-end, I’ve got a shit-ton of work to do over the next few days.
Information below copied from their information page, Chinese and English both from their page:
►2nd does appointment for AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine is OPEN in MacKay Memorial Hospital
►Notes
2.1 When the clinic starts: it opens on June 28 and operates following the government’s vaccination guidelines.
2.2 Mixing COVID-19 vaccines are not suggested. Kindly note AZ vaccine needs to be given at least 14 days intervals with different coronavirus vaccines.
► Who are eligible?
Get your first shot before April 19 in MacKay , please book the second shot appointment on June 28
Get your first shot between April 20 and 21 in MacKay , please book the second shot appointment on June 30.
If you’re pregnant when taking the second shot, please book a pregnant clinic.
► Required documents: National Health Insurance Card, Yellow Vaccination Card (If your yellow vaccination card is lost, please book Family Medicine Clinic to reissue it. Kindly note fee is applied.)
► Location: Outdoor Clinic in Taipei branch. (At the end of the lane next to the main entrance on Zhongshan N. Rd.) (Refer to the yellow box in this map)
► Please check-in according to your appointment time. (No late than 11 am in morning clinic, no late than 4 pm in afternoon clinic) Kindly note your vaccination would be withdrawn if you are late.
►How to book: make an appointment online via our booking system opens from the afternoon, June 25.
At first I was confused because the Hospital website has the following information :
Those who had the 1st dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at Far Eastern Memorial Hospital before May 9th can receive the second shot after June 23rd by online appointment.The online appointment will be available for booking few days before the estimated date for vaccination.
Note: The vaccine rollout plan above will dynamically change based on the supply and logistics of the CECC.
However If you receive a SMS text message , then there is no need to do the online registration and you only have to go to the Main Entrance at the Hospital and show your NHI card /vaccination card
The process was very fast (I only had to write my name and phone number in a Form) and wait 15 minutes at the rest area
About side effects , I was feeling tired , pain in the arm and a little headache at night but no fever,
all side effects were gone after a couple of days and now I feel normal
Here’s the official map with the current vaccination places all over Taiwan: COVID-19防治一網通
Here is another (unofficial) map for Taipei, including also the 207 small community clinics. I’m not sure who can be vaccinated there or when, but they seem to be planned to be included in the vaccination efforts based on this Taipei Department of Health news post and the 3 PDFs provided there:
I had my second shot of AstraZeneca at MacKay hospital (Taipei City branch) a couple of days ago, exactly ten weeks after I got my first dose. The process was … OK. Whole thing took about 75 minutes, including the 15-minute wait afterwards.
You never actually go in the main part of MacKay hospital, just in a few rooms from a side door off an alley. Their explanation page has a map. Note that page does have pretty good English - just scroll down!
If you’re coming from Shuanglian Station, walk around the front of the main building, and turn left down the first alley on Zhongshan Road. There will be a couple of initial tents and awnings - ignore those - and keep going until there’s another awning and tent back near some ventilation and a vehicle gate. Zero English signage.
Get in one line to tell them you’re there: if you made an appointment online, they’ll have your appointment paper to give you. There is no machine to stick your card in. Then wait outside in the alley (yes, in the sun) until your number is called. I waited about thirty minutes. They called numbers in order they arrived, not the order you were on the list (thank goodness), but that does mean you need to pay close attention to the numbers. And so does everyone else. So we’re all standing in a distanced crowd, then packing together every time the nurse emerged to shout out a couple of numbers.
They call your number (all Chinese only), you go in, and sit in a smaller queue for perhaps ten minutes. You’re waved in to see a doctor for a sort of pointless interview asking and informing about side effects. English available.
You go sit in a small interior room with a bunch of other people. They give you a form to fill in, all Chinese. I have no idea how inaccurate my form was, but I know at one point I wrote down my wife’s name with my ID number because I assumed if they were asking for a second name it was an emergency contact, but nope, the nurse looked at my ID number and copied that down in the blank I’d filled with “?”.
Get waved in to another room, get jab (seemed longer this time), get waved back to the small interior room. I opted to wait in a tent outside.
Leave after 15 minutes. No one seemed to be keeping track of when you were supposed to go. I just left.
Possibly useful information: I left a bit before 11am - and the crowd was almost all gone. I suspect you could show up at 10:30 and get through the whole thing a lot faster than I did arriving at 9:30.
Ironically, only twice in the past few months have I been in crowded inside rooms for an extended period of time. Those two times were for vaccines.
Registration: it looks like MacKay is opening up the computer registration a few days early - I see now the computer system is open for today, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. I believe the computer system only accepts bookings for those who are at least ten weeks.
However, I also chatted with a couple of people who were getting the vaccine slightly earlier - they needed to show plane tickets. So if you’re not yet at the ten-week mark, and you have a plane ticket for imminent departure, you can show up with a copy of that ticket and still get the 2nd dose of the vaccine.
I do not know if they’re only accepting people who got the first shot at MacKay.
After-effects almost unnervingly absent, in comparison to the one-day hangover and four- or five-day feeling of being slightly off with the first dose. “Wait, I’m not feeling anything! Did I get a dud?! Damn, should have listened to mom, who told me never to get injections in back alleys.” Which is quite literally what happened.
Yes, kudos to @the_bear for breaking this news. Just trying to keep the information available/handy for everyone eligible since it’s already buried in the vaccine Taiwan thread.
