Friday, April 16th, 2021
Today I received my second dose of the BioNTech vaccine.
It was a very different experience to the first inoculation. When I arrived at the site for my first shot, I was all teary eyed and about to cry as I got the jab. It was a very emotional experience to have the perspective to put all of this behind me.
Today was no less emotional, but very different. I had taken the day of work just in case of side effects. Of course, I ended up on calls from 7:00 until literally the minute I had to leave, dropping of a call to race to my car and make my appointment which was a 45-minute drive away. I was nervous. Nervous about missing the time slot, about possible side effects which would incapacitate me for a day or two. I have a very important meeting at 6:00 tomorrow, which I do not want to miss.
So far, I am glad to report, there are no noticeable side effects. I arrived twenty-five minutes early allowing for enough time to refill the car. Like the last time the site was not overly busy and very well organized. I entered twenty-minutes before my alotted time-slot and proceeded to a line for checking my ID and my COVID vaccination card. Once the check-in was done, I was immediately ushered to a vaccine station, received my shot and went to the waiting area. All in all that took about a minute. Although my actual appointment was not until 10:57 by 11:03 I was done, including my fifteen-minute wait period. By April 30th I will be, as I like to say, joining the ranks of the invincible, at least as far as this evil virus is concerned.
I am glad to report that all the Aikidoka I practice in the park with have receive their first shot and some the second. Also, most of my friends have now received at least one shot. No vaccine hesitancy in my friend group! I can not begin to tell you how much I look forward to hugging them again, to hosting groups in my garden and maybe even for inside dining in my house. How I have missed that. Now we just need to have the rest of the world vaccinated. My priorities are Europe and Africa. And then let the travels begin!
Not unsurprisingly scientists believe we will need booster shots annually. Since I do not ever want to return to this locked up life, count me in. Going forward I shall l be first in line for my flu shot, me pneumonia shot and my COVID shot, though I wish they could do it all in one, like the mumps, measle and rubella shot.
Meanwhile, the debate about blood clotting caused by some vaccines continues and scientists are racing to find out why and how to make the affected vaccines safer. JNJ reached out to Pfizer and Moderna today to request joined research. I am dismayed to hear both of these companies declined. This is not solidarity but driven by the believe they have the upper hand and stand to make profits for years to come by not working with a competitor. In my mind this is rather short sighted. So far causes and answers to the phenomena are at speculative levels.
A GOP representative has called out his peers for endangering him and others. I could not agree more: masks (and vaccination) should not be politicized. Especially wth rising numbers. The USA reported 74k new infections over the past twenty-four hours to bring its total number of cases to 32.3 million. Having said that, this is a GOP issue, so if they pass, maybe the US will be in a better space.
I have no sympathies for stupid and not wearing a mask or refusing a vaccine is plain stupid.