Getting the COVID vaccine

Tactics, good luck and . . . a little guilt

Yep, that big, muscular (?) arm is your author after receiving a COVID-19 shot.

In a whirlwind 16 hour window we:

1.) got an appointment, 2.) drove 40 miles to get there, 3.) had a hell of a time figuring out where the actual site was, 4.) fended off some probably innocent, but still annoying, line jumpers, 5.) went through a drive-through with nurses who were so incredibly friendly and helpful we thought we were being secretly recorded, 6.) not only got a shot, but an appointment (time and date) for the booster shot and, 7.) got the shot.

Now I’m trying to figure out how I feel about it. We’re relieved of course. And so are our kids who pointed out more than once that I’m well over the 65-year-old cutoff.

But there’s also some guilt. Every time we go in the supermarket I think about the checkers and workers. They should qualify for a shot, but they’re not all getting them. I have even talked to some who won’t take one.

We’ve gotten to know one of the butchers pretty well and at one point I noticed when he hadn’t around for a while. When he returned a few weeks ago, he told us his mother and brother had died of COVID.

I picture myself walking by the butcher counter now and waving at him with the bandaid from the shot still on my arm.

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And yet, there is something undeniably hopeful about getting the vaccine. Once you’re there with your sleeve rolled up, it seems easy. It doesn’t take 30 seconds. This is all we have to do to beat the Coronavirus?

Of course, we have to factor in the time, money and effort to develop the vaccine. And now, we have to worry about getting enough of it out to inoculate the majority of the country and the world.

But it is an undeniable step forward. We need bigger steps, and more of them, but this works. Every vaccinated person brings the infection level down a fraction.

So given the chance we went for it. I’m not going to say there still aren’t some guilty feelings, but I think it was a reasonable call.

Now, a couple of points.

First, we didn’t call in any special favors or have an in with any medical provider. Two days ago we knew absolutely nothing about this. Our health care company isn’t one that got lots of vaccine. The word on their web site was, basically “Sit tight and we’ll let you know.” We were resigned to waiting until spring.

But a pre-school teacher we know said one of the parents was getting appointments by basically sitting on a web site and refreshing over and over.

So we tried that, on-and-off all day. And we got nothing. My wife was still trying after 6 p.m., but — because I have a deep understanding of many things — I explained to her that there weren’t going to be appointments posted that late.

Which is when the first one popped up. And she had no sooner spotted it than it was gone, “booked by another patient.”

But then, from about 6:45 p.m. to seven, it was appointment bingo. They’d pop up, we’d try to book and we’d miss out. We finally realized not to worry about the time or place, just get a time.

And after trying and missing out on at least ten appointments, we got two, an hour apart for the next morning, at a site almost an hour away.

The drive down was a snap. Traffic on 101 still hasn’t fully returned. But once we got to town, we entered one of those business parks where the buildings look the same and the streets are somehow all dead ends.

The signage was non-existent. We drove past where GPS told us the site was supposed to be. Maybe more than once. Voices may have been raised.

Finally we spotted the white tent and pulled into the parking lot. We were early and they ask you not to get in line ahead of time to avoid a backup, so we parked to wait.

And that’s when we encountered the familiar “the airport gate jumper effect.” You know how airlines have you board in groups, like Group 1, Group 2 etc? When the gate agent calls for “Group one,” there is always a group of people — regrettably often of my advanced age — who can’t stand it. They push up to the front although they are clearly holding “Group four” cards. (Oddly, when I mention this outrage, the rest of my family rolls their eyes.)

Anyhow we had a couple of attempted line jumpers, driving directly into the check-in. But one woman was not having it. She made sure she knew when our appointment was — right after her — and went straight to jumpers’ window and set them straight. Vaccine justice!

We even got a compliment from the nurse for “waiting so patiently.” So there. We told her I was getting the first shot and then my wife had an appointment an hour later.

“We can do both at once,” the nurse said. So technically, I guess we were the line jumpers.

An extremely cheerful nurse walked up to the car window with the syringes. As she wiped my arm with a cloth, she asked me something. I launched into a pointless reply and before I could finish she said, “all done.” I honestly didn’t feel it.

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So, takeaways:

First, we know there isn’t enough vaccine, but it isn’t non-existent. The nurses said they were doing 90 vaccinations today and at least that many in days to come. I know, there are 330 million people in the USA. But still, it is something.

And, although the web sites and applications may be confusing, they are definitely trying to make them work. Constant refreshing worked to get a COVID test and it works for a shot.

Finally, at this point those eligible for a shot is a relatively small subset. There are essential workers, people with medical conditions and those over 65. There are even some people who are eligible and don’t want to take the vaccine. The chances are, with some effort, eligible people can get an appointment.

And now that we’ve done it, and gotten shots, we feel lucky. But we also know that right now a huge chunk of the population either doesn’t qualify for the vaccine or find that it is in such short supply that they can’t get it.

Hence the guilt.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Suggestions and compliments welcome. Criticism not so much. Twitter: @cwnevius