Why a Canadian in the U.K. signed up to be a volunteer vaccinator

Over the weekend, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson celebrated a "significant milestone" in the country's efforts to eliminate COVID-19 — more than 15 million people received their first shot of a vaccine. 

Along with Israel and the U.A.E., the U.K. is ahead in the global race for vaccinations, as hundreds of thousands of people are being vaccinated daily at hubs across the country. The Brits have already reached their first target of vaccinating people over the age of 70, front-line health care workers and long-term care home residents.

Natasia Kalajdziovski is a Canadian PhD student living in London. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for all Canadians living abroad to "come home," she decided to stay. The next day, she experienced her first symptoms of the virus. Now a year after that experience, she just finished her training as a volunteer vaccinator.

The Torontonian spoke with As It Happens host Carol Off about living through the pandemic in the U.K. Here is part of that conversation.

Natasia, what made you want to train to become a volunteer vaccinator?

I had COVID right at the beginning of the pandemic in March of last year [and] did not have a good time of it…. Honestly, I would do anything in my power to prevent anyone else from going through the same thing. I've donated plasma. I've tried starting my own oral history project for survivors. And this seemed like a natural next step.

So what do you think it's going to be like when you've got a real person there and a real arm?

I think there's going to be a lot of adrenaline rush.

I think I'll feel quite emotional when I do my first vaccination, which I am looking forward to.

I think one of the things that is going to come out the shadows of the pandemic, once it's done, is [the] huge emotional and mental toll of being a survivor of COVID. The first few months after I started feeling better, I was in constant fear of becoming infected again. And it took a long time to let go of that fear and feel safe in public spaces.- 

The U.K. has now administered 15 million vaccine doses to people ... What's the secret to [its] success?

The top reason has to do with what the U.K. strategy was overall. 

If you ask anybody who's spent their time during the pandemic in the U.K., there's a lot to be said about some of the failures of the government.

But I think one of their key strategies was always a long-term reliance on a vaccine coming into the fore. It seems to be a gamble that has paid off. 

This additional strategy of [delaying] the second dose means that the number of 15 million was attainable because it didn't mean that only seven million people or 7.5 million people were getting their full dose ... it was allowing as many people as possible to at least have some form of immunity against the virus.

The U.K. also went into a massive production campaign, right? So that, I understand, is a huge part of the success which Canada didn't do, or couldn't do.

There was a push at the early stages of the pandemic to create a domestic production capacity and that definitely very positively impacted the U.K.'s ability to get that vaccination number achieved —because there isn't any supply chain issues. Mostly everything is done in country, at least for AstraZeneca. I think the Pfizer [vaccine] is imported from Belgium, but it's still at least coming from the continent. 

OK, but you mentioned that though it has a tremendous track record now for the vaccine, [it was] not so good most of the past year as far as dealing with the virus. What did you observe?

I can speak personally, having been infected in a period when the U.K. should have gone into lockdown and didn't. 

This is a trend that happened throughout the entire pandemic, where there seemed to be an over-reliance on political strategy rather than the scientific strategy. Particularly during the summer, there was an impetus to decide, OK, is our priority to save lives or is it to save the economy? And I think, for a long time, the U.K. couldn't make up its mind as to which it preferred to save, which resulted in both having dramatic consequences. 

We're now in our third lockdown. It's been a bleak 10 months in a lot of ways, but the vaccination part of that, at least, is finally this wondrous light that we're able to see in the moment.

You mentioned your own COVID-19 case. How are you feeling now?

I do still have some long COVID symptoms, but compared to a lot of other people, I know that I'm quite fortunate ... they're not a detriment to my life. 

I think one of the things that is going to come out the shadows of the pandemic, once it's done, is [the] huge emotional and mental toll of being a survivor of COVID. The first few months after I started feeling better, I was in constant fear of becoming infected again. And it took a long time to let go of that fear and feel safe in public spaces.

And you have been separated from your family in Toronto during this past year as well?

I haven't been home since January 2019.... That's been really hard and interesting in certain ways. 

My parents and my grandparents are immigrants to Canada. When they left their home country, there was never this opportunity to go back ... whereas I've always had this transatlantic life. And to have something like a pandemic happen really solidifies what it means to immigrate.... The concreteness of that experience isn't the privilege historically that I've had. So that's been difficult. 

And I think also to be ill, away from your family, is another kind of traumatic experience in and of itself. Not just for me, but I can't imagine the worry that my parents were going through at the time.

When will you get your vaccine?

I've actually had my first dose, but that was purely by a stroke of luck.... A nearby vaccination centre had doses of Pfizer that were going to spoil if they weren't used by the end of the day. So they opened it up to anyone who was around and I heard through the grapevine. I feel very fortunate in that sense.

Written by Mehek Mazhar. Interview produced by Katie Geleff. Q&A edited for length and clarity.