Yesterday, due to the snow that Mom's Prius couldn't cope with, I drove my SUV to pick up my parents and get them to their second COVID shot. It was a drive-thru situation in a community college parking lot. I'd hoped they would just add me to the list and give me a shot, but no chance.
But I cannot tell you how relieved I am to have both of my parents and my sister (who all live together) vaccinated. Mom is 73, dad is 83, and both still very active with Mom's business designing gardens.
At this point, I no longer give a flying fuck. Now that my parents and sister as safe (well, as safe as can be), I can let down my guard for the first time in 50 weeks.
The relief is indescribable.
My wife and I are both fully vaccinated. The clinic did their shots at a small office downtown, with nothing but healthcare workers trickling in. I did mine in the ballroom at Seattle U, where there was a line to get in the line that gets in line. They go from 6am to 9pm; I got there half an hour early for an appointment that you pick by the minute and was getting jabbed within 2-3 minutes of the allotted time. They told me the site does 5500 vaccinations a day, so that would have been 400-odd people there at the same time as me. My mother-in-law should be getting her first shot today, my father-in-law got his first shot two weeks ago. I see far too much stuff about mutations, B.117, 501.V2 and the general nature of coronaviruses, which simply don't stand still. Eventually? Eventually COVID will evolve to be ridiculously virulent and fundamentally nonlethal. But I don't see "eventually" on the horizon yet. I don't mean to rain on your parade. 50% efficacy kicks the shit out of 0% efficacy. But this doesn't seem like an "out of the woods" moment to me just yet.
By then it is another iteration of the common cold or seasonal flu, and my worry is reduced to normal worrying-about-old-people-any-time-they-get-sick, rather than TRUMP FOLLOWERS ARE ACTIVELY TRYING TO KILL MY PARENTS!!! Which is a relief. Now we just need to go back to worrying about angry white men with guns, and no longer have to also view them as a bioweapon hazard.
I started reading a truly miserable book about the SAS during the troubles that's basically "yay death squads!" written by a prominent member of said-same death squads. I had to stop halfway through 'cuz it's just so awful. I hate the British to begin with but this book made me really hate the British. I countered that by reading a truly more miserable book about the IRA that's basically "yay shamrock Taliban!" I hate the British no less but now I hate the Irish, too. I thought it was weird when a Welsh boy's choir couldn't perform at my middle school in the middle of goddamn New Mexico because the fucking IRA called in a bomb threat but really? That's the fuckin' IRA. I keep reading this fucking bullshit about people I would happily push into a meat grinder because at the end of the day? Gerry Addams has a Twitter, Northern Ireland is largely bomb-free and somehow, the UK maintained partition without salting the ground of Belfast so that nothing would ever grow again. it was pointed out this morning that Lauren Boebert is speaking at CPAC, the same body that banned Mitt Romney.
I couple weeks ago I went cross country skiing. When I got home I realized I hadn't thought about the pandemic for a solid two hours, and it felt great. My parents have their first shot and have appointments for the second the first week of March. My work put me in our state's group 1b. I don't know how to feel about that because I can work just fine from home, but if the shit hit the fan (a la Texas right now) they would probably ask me to come in. If offered I'll take it, but I don't feel that important.The relief is indescribable.
My wife and I work in healthcare. She is in the office every day working with patients. Me? I work from home and have gone to the office a half-dozen times since last March. I was surprised when I got approved before she did, but I didn't look the gift horse in the mouth. I got the shot. She got approved a week later. My mother is 78 and when she went to schedule her first shot (through hospital system), she couldn't get anything until mid-April. Then the state (NC) made the decision to let Walgreens start giving the shot and she was able to get in the same week. So she is due for her second shot in early March. If all goes well we will be able to go visit her in April during my daughter's Spring Break vacation. It'll be the first time we've seen my mom since this all started. I hope retail and restaurant workers can get very soon. They deserve it more than me since I work from home. I do feel a bit guilty, but ultimately, I am doing my part. I stay home as much as possible, wear my mask, stay as far from other people (especially those that try to move closer), and now I am vaccinated to reduce the likelihood I will end up in the hospital taking up a bed. Don't feel guilty or hesitant about getting the shot if offered. It is a part of the overall strategy of being a team player and looking out for society as a whole.
I agree with both "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" and being a team player. Vaccination prioritization is hugely complex and will always be flawed. Trying to second guess priorities is not unlike second guessing social distancing. Go with it and accept it's flawed but trying to do the best for everyone.