"Child’s covid vaccination"

Brought my child to be vaccinated at a pop up location in a shopping centre. She is afraid of needles so found it a stressful experience.

I would like to suggest that registration could be done out of sight of vaccination area. It took a long time to register at the beginning of our appointment and the anticipation increased my child’s fear. We were seen immediately after which was a relief though.

We had used a numbing cream to help reduce the pain of the needle. Although I made the nurse aware of this, they unfortunately injected adjacent to the numbed area.

Although the nurses were trying to help, I felt I wasn’t able to reassure and distract my child myself because they took over that role. My daughter seemed overwhelmed. With a calmer atmosphere I think I could have supported her better.

My child is now very nervous about her upcoming second vaccination. If possible I would prefer to take her to a quieter location (e.g. GP surgery) for her next jab.