Better than Christmas for us…when the hospital where the
Spouse Thingy works received their first shipment of Pfizer vaccines. I’m
talking 8-year-old-kid levels of excitement, knowing he was in the first tier
to be vaccinated. They made it clear that the ER and its staff were priority—and
we both agreed with that—with other essential providers to follow. ER, ICU,
COVID ward, then the OR, all considered first tier, in that order.
The email to personnel went out and the scheduling of appointments
began; based on the info in the email we thought he would get his first shot
next week. But there was a little notation: there may be a small number
of walk-in slots available. Yesterday morning he had business to take care of
in the area, so he decided it wouldn’t hurt to pop in and see what the odds
were.
The odds were in his favor. And thusly, I learned on
Facebook that he’d gotten his shot.
Yes, I know where I rank.
In three weeks, he’ll get his 2
nd shot, and two
weeks after that, he should be good to go. Still masking, still taking all the precautions,
but that deep worry about a patient who tested negative but was exposed and might
have it anyway, who will somehow cough on him or breathe on him, even with all
the PPE (and he is geared up while doing a case)…that worry becomes so much
less.
You can bet that I won’t hesitate when I’m eligible to get
my shots.
Do I worry about the speed with which this has been rolled
out?
Not one bit.
Look, I know it seems speedy, but it really hasn’t
been. There’s solid research behind this, over 25 years’ worth. We could have
had them sooner if not for the absolute necessity of dedicated phase testing—there
was no way around that, no matter how confident the companies producing the vaccines
were in the efficacy of their production.
BUT THIS VIRUS IS NEW! YOU’RE NUTS! It’s still a
coronavirus, which is not new. Look at the common cold—there are four common
cold coronaviruses, and over 600 variants. There has been research into those
as long as people have been looking to cure the common cold. And until someone
cut the funding in the US and closed it down, research into coronavirus was
humming along nicely; how much faster might this have been if it hadn’t been?
WELL, THE PRESIDENT ISN’T GETTING IT SO WHY SHOULD I?
He’s not getting it because he’s had COVID recently enough that, while he could
get the vaccine, he’s choosing to wait. And this is one thing I agree with him
on. The recommendations are that if you’ve had COVID within the last couple of
months, you can wait; if you had it early on, get the vaccination. He’s not
getting it, thus saving that dose for someone else, but the Vice President
will, and he’ll do it publicly.
BUT WHY BOTHER IF THE ANTIBODIES ARE GONE IN A FEW
MONTHS? Because that’s how inoculations tend to work. You get the shot,
your body detects it as a foreign invader, creates antibodies to fight it, and basically
writes the instructions on how to combat that foreign entity on a cellular level,
and then sheds the antibodies. When reinfected, your body already has the
instructions on how to fight it off, it creates new antibodies, and the cycle
continues. It’s why you only need some vaccinations once in your life—like smallpox
or chicken pox. There’s no reason to think this will be different.
Will there be a variant strain that will require boosters?
Possibly. We get flu shots every year because the strains change. But that’s a
lot less of a hassle than actually getting COVID. It’s just a shot. We get
those all the time.
BUT I HEARD GETTING IT CAN MAKE YOU SICK! It might
make you feel awful for about 24 hours, but you won’t actually be ill. It also
might not make you feel off at all. Your arm will probably be sore…just like
with a flu shot (that’s all the Spouse Thingy has, a sore arm. No calling off
work for him.) But if you get those side effects? That horrible feeling is a
good sign; your body is producing antibodies. Embrace it, because it will be
over with quickly.
Remember when I had that awful bout with colitis a few years
back? And a couple of lesser bouts since? That’s how I got through it, telling myself
that it wasn’t forever, this was pain and sickness that would get better, so it
wasn’t the end of the world. Pain and illness sucks, but it’s a lot easier to
take when you know it will get better. The side effects from this will ease up.
Lingering effects from the virus might not.
We’re never going to achieve herd immunity if we don’t get
the shots, not without killing millions of people.
So, yes, I am thrilled beyond belief that the Spouse Thingy
was able to get his first shot so soon and that it’s just 21 more days until he
gets the next. And I’ll get it as soon as I can.
I am freaking excited at the idea that it won’t be much
longer. I’m gonna let them stab me right in my Superman tattoo.
