After weeks of requesting, imploring, cajoling, begging… and many more other words (some not very nice) ending in “ing”, I finally got my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine.
Despite the fact that I am a longtime Marin County resident and an equally longtime member of Kaiser Permanente, I had to go to San Francisco to get my shoulder pierced. My wife volunteered to drive me there, and since parking in Baghdad by the Bay can be pretty nightmarish, I gratefully accepted.
The vaccination was ultimately done through Kaiser at the USF Koret Health and Recreation Center on Turk Street in San Francisco. After a quick ride from Marin, my wife dropped me there and went looking for a parking space.
I have to admit that this mass vaccination was very well organized. At the entrance of the center, on Turk street, you were greeted by half a dozen nurses and security people who asked for your credentials. Because to be vaccinated, you absolutely had to have an appointment before being allowed into their cavernous inner sanctum.
After a short wait outside (about 20 minutes) my time slot group was ushered inside. The gigantic hall was staffed by a multitude of volunteers? and a large contingent of USF nursing students who administered the shots. It was immediately apparent that the young woman who gave me my injection was a trainee. She seemed very tentative and was coached every step of the way by an older gentleman. She finally, rather hesitantly, gave me the injection, and even though the syringe needle looked at least one inch long, it was surprisingly painless.
After I was given the injection, I was re-scheduled for a second shot and asked to sit down and wait for at least 15 minutes to make sure that there would be no ill side effects. Nothing of this sort occurred to me or to any of the other people sitting around me.
Some oddballs (anti-vax) are still refusing vaccinations and are denigrating that procedure. Probably the same groups who blamed wildfires on Jewish space lasers, and who believe that the shootings at Parkland, Sandy Hook, and Las Vegas were staged.
Where are these psilocybin mushroom induced stories coming from?
Unfortunately, “There is no vaccine against stupidity.”– Albert Einstein
In about 3 weeks I will get my second shot, along with some peace of mind. I hope that I will be (temporarily?) protected and unable to transmit the virus to anybody else. But does this mean that I will be able to ditch my mask and hug anybody that I fancy?
Absolutely not. Masks will be with us for a long time to come and going without it would be foolish. So, get used to it and be glad you are still breathing.
But do I see a flickering of light at the end of the tunnel? I do. After a long troublesome year, like millions of people, I yearn to get back to a normal, unrestricted way of life. And it will happen, but not tomorrow and not even in 2021.
In the meantime, keep a stiff upper lip (rather difficult to do with a mask) and carry on! That’s all you can do.
Alain