Quirino Grandstand Pfizer Booster Vaccine Shot Drive Through Experience
January 23, 2022
I got my 2nd vaccination (Sinovac) last July 2021, so technically was eligible to get my booster shot on January 2022. Lo and behold, the Philippine government announced in December that you could get vaccinated after 3 months of your 2nd dose. But well, I was thinking, sayang naman my vacation if I end up spending ~1-2 days sick after the booster.
Oops, wrong decision. Come January, hello omicron surge. Suddenly the prospect of queuing in a crowded area (no matter how socially distanced) for ~1-2 hours to get my booster shot didn’t seem very appealing, especially because I’d heard numerous stories from friends and friends of friends who suspected they contracted COVID while waiting in line. Of course, all these are unsubstantiated claims but it definitely gave me pause.
But then, drive through vaccinations suddenly became available. Since I’m from QC, I was quite keen on getting my booster shot in Quezon City also ideally. Unfortunately, all the drive through vaccines in Quezon City seemed to be of AstraZeneca. Rumor has it Mayor Joy plans to keep all the Pfizer shots for the adolescents. Makes sense, but sad for me.
Next, I found out Nayong Pilipino was also offering drive through vaccinations, but for Moderna. So I signed up via https://vax.captivate.ph. Supposedly, I should receive my schedule notification within 24-48 hours. But I kept waiting, and a week later, still no notification. I later found out the reason why… As Quezon City was under EZConsult before, prior to their big falling out, I already had an existing account with them (except I was marked as “no show”…), and so when I signed up for Nayong Pilipino, they probably thought I still wasn’t eligible!!! Grrrr. Anyway, tip for you: if you’re applying, make sure to use an email address that’s NOT linked to your EZConsult account. Also, if you got Sinovac, just put 0.5mL as the dosage.
Then finally! We discovered Quirino Grandstand – Yorme’s Manila drive through vaccination open to everyone (not just Manila residents) with ALL brands. On the first day, we were getting ready to leave the house at 5AM to brave the queues, only to hear reports that people had started up queuing the night before. Ok, scrap that plan.
Well, last Monday, January 17 – we finally took the plunge. We headed to Quirino Grandstand and arrived at the Roxas Boulevard queue at 10:10PM. We had mistakenly thought that there would be less people at weird hours, since we assumed people would rather go here during normal working hours. WRONG. I highly recommend you go during lunch hour, apparently that’s the time with the least amount of people.
Upon arriving, we were flagged down by a Manila volunteer, and he walked us through what we needed, which was
- Manila QR code – if you aren’t a Manila resident, make sure to register here beforehand, as there are reports that the server crashes sometimes, and when that happens while you’re there, you wouldn’t be able to proceed with the vaccination! Here’s the link for your reference: https://manilacovid19vaccine.ph/
- Manila COVID form – just download it online
- Vaccination form – to be filled up. Just write your pertinent personal information, indicate the brand you want and that you’re getting a booster
- Vaccination card – keep this handy, they’ll ask to see this when you’re about to be jabbed, as they need proof you’re within the 3 months window from your 2nd vaccination
Once you’ve showed you have all this ready, a volunteer will then direct you to the appropriate queue for the vaccine brand you want to get. From personal experience, the Pfizer queue is always the longest (despite the fact that there are TWO Pfizer queues). We queued for 3 hours, gosh.
But the AstraZeneca queue was practically non-existent. The Moderna and Sinovac queue is one and the same, and these had limited cars too. So if you want Moderna, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, definitely a good decision to queue here. My friend wanted Sinovac and she was in and out in 30 minutes.
Anyway, after that, the long wait began. I recommend you bring a laptop, or a fully charged phone so you can hunker down and watch a movie while waiting. You can probably finish a show if you’re queuing for Pfizer. Also, make sure you’ve gone to the bathroom before you start queuing and that you don’t drink any water beforehand and during because there are no bathrooms!! There’s technically a mobile bathroom (the ones you see at Sinulog and y’know street events), but I cannot guarantee its cleanliness
Finally, once we had made it to the front after 2.5 long hours, I could finally see the guys in PPE!!!! It took another 30 minutes before it was finally our turn, but then we were finally there! Yahoo.
The nurse (I assume he was a nurse) asked to see our vaccination cards (picture seemed sufficient, but I advise bringing a physical copy just to be safe), our QR codes, and then collected the filled up vaccine forms. Once everything checked out, he had us roll down our windows one-by-one and proceeded to inject the vaccine.
OMG. Ordeal finally over. We were told that all our details had been uploaded online and we could already download our vaccination card with the booster shot details. True enough, we checked as soon as we left and it was there. That is very efficient. Good job Manila!
As for side effects, I thought I could get away scot free as I felt totally fine when I woke up, albeit rather groggy because I managed to tumble into bed at 2AM but still had to wake up at 7AM. Grawr, my 8 hour sleep goal = not met.
But by the time I was going home from work (around 6:30PM), I was feeling rather nauseous – although I chalked it up to the #stress from work (and maybe overexercise because my sister made me exercise with her on Monday and it was killer – I died). But after dinner, I felt rather chilly and was feeling quite grumpy, so opted to sleep by 10:30PM.
The next morning, when I woke up, I was right as rain again. So overall, the effect of the booster on me was not so bad.
So that’s it – recap of my experience. Hope you found it helpful!