Katie and Nick got their first doses of Pfizer today and are well on their way to being vaccinated. All in all, it was pretty painless even without appointments with the only real hiccup being the registration volunteer who took three reminders about HIPAA and privacy before he took the hint. Another patient had entered the small space we were in but fortunately the vast majority of the protected health information (PHI) portion of the registration was done and I was able to type the information into the tablet without the other patient seeing it.
Anywho, even though they didn’t really have a choice in getting it, I still couldn’t be prouder of them for accepting the jab to do their part to help end the spread of COVID-19 and hopefully make this pandemic a thing of the past.
Mind you, there’s still a mountain to scale before we can truly declare the pandemic done and dusted but knowing that these kids are doing their bit for community and country really does my heart good!
The biggest challenge will be getting those individuals who are currently refusing the vaccine to roll up their sleeves and take one (or two!) for the needs of the community at large to get us to the point where the virus has an increasingly smaller number of vectors by which to propagate. Whether that’s the so-called “herd immunity” or getting to a critical number of citizens with immunity…if we’re ever going to hope to get life back to what passes for “normal” these days, we need as many doses in arms as is logistically possible.
To be fair, there are certainly there are plenty of people who have legitimate reasons for not doing the vaccine: severe allergies, higher risk of adverse reaction to the vaccine components, conflicts between the vaccine and other medications, etc.
In fact, that last one is why we’re holding off on vaccinating Alex because he’s just stopped taking one of his medications and we need to be sure he’s completely off it and doing well before we introduce another variable in an already complex medication regime.
Other immediate family members were poster children for the first two problems but their consultant cleared them for vaccination but only in hospital so that if things went south, they were right where they needed to be to get it sorted out promptly.
And there are even more who legitimately don’t know enough about the vaccine options or feel comfortable with the FDA/CDC emergency authorisation being as rigourous a review as they feel comfortable with at this point. I get that…I truly do. I hope that you will have an open mind to receiving *REAL* information about the vaccines and their risks/side effects to make an informed decision.
These are not the people who I feel are the problem.
The ones I’m talking about the ones who absolutely refuse to take the vaccine after having been convinced/brainwashed by the anti-vax BS artists who don’t have the faintest clue about *REAL SCIENCE* and are pushing these tales that the vaccine has some sort of nanobots allowing the government to track individuals (it doesn’t) or allow some sort of software upload to the person’s brain for nefarious purposes (even more idiotic, the technology just doesn’t exist outside of science fiction) or any number of other silly arguments that don’t even stand up to casual scrutiny much less serious examination.
Stories of government plots using the vaccine as the delivery vehicle are best left to new episodes of the “X-Files” rather than being taken seriously!
My favourites are the ones refusing the vaccine solely on political grounds…and doing so with a straight face. The other party is currently in the majority in office so they’re going to refuse the vaccine just for that reason as if the government is out to off them via the vaccine!
Honestly, it’s hard not to think people in this category are truly too stupid to live and function effectively in the world where there are actual adults that behave and think as adults.
Those who are anti-vaccine without good reason are going to find life getting more difficult when policy makers and employers finally come down on the side of reality where proof of vaccination will be required to be tendered a job offer or to travel domestically (there are already “vaccine passport” requirements for international travel).
Shoot…there are restaurants who refuse table service indoors to those who cannot prove they have been vaccinated and it’s long enough after the final dose to be considered as immune as the vaccine can possibly make someone (which is pretty impressive but not 100% given the mutations in the virus and the varying efficacy rates).
Pretty soon, it’s going to be the rare exception where you won’t be showing your vaccination card much in the same way as you have to show photo ID such as a driver’s licence or passport even with certain jurisdictions trying to outlaw so-called “vaccine passports” or prohibiting businesses or other entities from requiring such proof.
And even TSA showed a rare bit of intelligence by mandating the masks onboard planes and other forms of public transport even with the latest CDC guidance on masks that didn’t really do anyone any favours. Absent a system requiring passengers to prove vaccination/immunity, you can not just leave it to the honour system in such enclosed spaces where proper distancing just isn’t possible. I’m not a huge fan of the TSA’s “security theatre/antics” that are far more show than real security but I’ll give them credit for being on the only correct side of this issue given the distancing constraints.
To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of communicating private health information with perfect strangers without a very compelling reason to do so. The day the mask guidance changed so that people who were two weeks past final vaccine dose no longer needed to wear masks in public, I saw the interrogation someone was subjected to at Sam’s and it’s not a conversation I’d be comfortable with so I’ve taken the mask with me to the stores even though I’m considered fully vaccinated.
But consider what happens if the infection rates start spiking again…shoving the mask-free genie back into it’s bottle is going to be a hell of a lot harder than it was letting it loose…if indeed it can be done.
It then comes back to people having to show their proof of vaccination and even then I don’t think that’s going to truly do the trick as the CDC cards are easily forged and unless the person looking at it is an expert and can spot obvious forgeries, people who are intent on evading restrictions whilst not being fully vaccinated are going to continue to do as they please and the community be damned.
I’m thinking the government health authorities are going to have to figure out some sort of application that will allow confirmation of vaccination status without giving protected health information to people who truly have no need of it. Whether that is a mobile app that will give a QR code for someone to scan at the entrance or a digital image of the card with appropriate redactions, I have no idea.
But I imagine they’d better figure it out sooner than later as solving these problems is well above my pay grade.
But what I can do I will and that means having my kids vaccinated as the earliest possible opportunity I can and explain to them the sacrifices one occasionally has to make to serve the larger community.
Fortunately, Katie and Nick were on-side even before I played the ace I had in the hole of a Frank’s fix for lunch afterward. They’re good kids doing the right thing and for that amongst many reasons, I am truly proud of them. 🙂