I got the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine earlier today at Paulson Stadium.

From my personal experience, the whole process took up an hour of my time including the sign-up process the week before.

I just filled out the information that I was prompted for once I clicked the “COVID-19 Information and Resources” tab in my MyGS account. This let me choose when and where (the Savannah or Statesboro campus) to schedule my appointment from the ones available and then automatically generated a date and time for my second vaccination appointment. This helps prevent the issue that some people have been facing of being unable to book their second appointment or that they might forget to. 

Once I figured out which road was Lanier Drive (I’m not the best with road names), everything was smooth and slightly toasty sailing. 

The parking lot is marked off with cones like a drivers ed course with helpful volunteers in vests, in the same highlighter color of the cones, pointing you through and checking your paperwork, and all were more than happy to answer any questions I had all the way through. 

Each of the four steps is color coded with a large flag marking your progress. Green being check-in and the initial paper check, followed by yellow, red (the vaccine) and finally orange where you are instructed into a tetris-like car formation to wait to see if you have any immediate reactions to the vaccine before you can head off to the next thing on your schedule.

I was given a copy of the FDA Fact Sheet for Recipients and Caregivers before getting the vaccine which was an informational and familiar read through while I waited.

By the end I traded my completed consent form for an information packet about the Moderna vaccine, some post-vaccine information from the CDC, my Vaccine Record card, plus a sticker confirming that, “I Got Vaccinated!”. 

The last two don’t just help confirm that I got my first dose, but also serve as a reminder of my next appointment and help get me a free donut which was definitely a bonus. 

That’s right, you heard it here folks: not only do you get a dose of the Moderna vaccine, but you also get a sticker AND a small piece of paper that you can use to get a free donut. All you have to do is set aside some time, hope the Georgia heat is merciful and bring some good music to hum along with while you wait.