I Have One Jab
Earlier today The Fabulous Wife and I received our first COVID-19 vaccination (the Pfizer).
We went to a supersite a five-minute drive from our home. The process rolls smoothly. The hardest part is following the right set of orange cones lining the enormous lot. Your first stop is a windswept post where a lone employee assures you you’ve come to the right place and directs you to a four-lane reception center.
The receptionist types in your appointment number on a mobile device and checks your ID. The Fabulous Wife assumed the receptionists would have scanners, but I insisted we make paper copies of our appointment confirmations, and sure enough, the receptionist gratefully took the paper. As I learned from my years at UC Berkeley, sometimes low tech works better.
Once your appointment and identity are confirmed, you’re directed to one of eight lanes to receive the shot. You stay in your car. It takes about five minutes per car to get checked in, have the injection, and receive a COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card.
From there you’re pointed to a waiting area, where you sit for 15 minutes in case you have an allergic reaction (the injection team puts a time on your windshield so the waiting area people know when to let you go). On your way, another lone employee on the windswept lot kindly hands you a card with a link to the website where you can make an appointment for your second dose. While we waited, I used my mobile phone to book appointments for both of us. As I learned from my years at UC Berkeley, when high tech works, it’s a beautiful thing.
From start to finish, the process took a little over an hour.
So far we’ve experienced no concerning side effects. The Fabulous Wife has some muscle aches and I’m feeling tired, but that could just as easily be because we didn’t sleep well last night.
The Fabulous Wife and I both remember receiving the polio vaccine, administered via sugar cube. No one in this country seriously worries about polio anymore. And yet a significant minority of our fellow citizens, many of whom favored herd immunity when it meant the death of millions, are now refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccination. WTF?
Let’s go back to the four basic types of human behavior. Smart behavior consists of doing what’s good for yourself and others — such as inoculating yourself against a pandemic so you don’t get sick, which in turn reduces the risk of spreading the sickness to others. Selfish behavior consists of doing what’s good for yourself to the detriment of others. Masochistic behavior consists of doing what’s good for others to your own detriment. And stupid behavior consists of doing what’s detrimental to yourself and others — such as not protecting yourself against a deadly disease and thus increasing the likelihood you’ll spread it to others.
You may not be stupid. But if you’re not getting vaccinated against COVID-19, you’re acting stupidly. Please everyone, be your better selves.
