VACCINATION: FIRST DOSE


There were vague articles in the local media about the Covid-19 vaccine being available --- sometime soon. But no specific locations or times were mentioned. On Thursday morning, I decided to see if there was more information on the internet and logged on to the county health department website. After some digging, I learned that the vaccines would be administered by local health care providers. Our primary care physician has an independent practice, not affiliated with a big clinic or hospital. I was sure she did not have the necessary equipment to keep the vaccine at the required temperature, nor was she situated to  hold a vaccine clinic and accommodate a large influx of patients. The county website did mention the three big clinics in our county. My husband and I have been patients of several specialists at one of them, so it was worth seeing if we would be included in their vaccination program --- whenever that was. 

I logged on to the clinic website and was excited to see that appointments for the vaccine were available for as soon as the coming Sunday. I quickly made an appointment for myself, then went into my husband's office to tell him that many slots were still available. He was busy and said he'd look into it in a couple of hours. 

Two hours later was almost too late. Although no general announcement had been made that the clinic was accepting appointments for the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, word must have spread on the grape-vine. By the time my husband tried to log on to the clinic website, it was overwhelmed as were the phone lines. I heard from a friend that making an appointment by phone at another of the three big clinics involved a two or three hour hold on the phone line. The appointment process at the third clinic was reputed to be "a mess". 

Nonetheless, I continued to try to make an appointment for my husband, hoping to get through to the appointment screen. Sometimes I couldn't even log on. Other times, I got part way through the process, then the connection crashed. I never got confirmation that I had succeeded. That's why I was surprised when I received a reminder email the day before my appointment. I logged on to read the message, and was also able to log on to my husband's account and learn that he also had an appointment for the same time as mine. I'll never know if one of my earlier attempts to make an appointment for him had actually worked, or if the system somehow added spouses to confirmed appointments. The latter is very unlikely. 

Anyway, on the day of our appointment we found the Covid Clinic in the lower level of the parking garage at the clinic. It was well organized with check-in stations where we also made appointments for the second dose, then moved on to one of about 12 vaccination stations. It appeared that at least 25 -- maybe as many as 50 --- people had been scheduled for each half hour. We were all in the 75-years-and-over category. The staff were unfailingly cheerful and efficient. After the injection we were asked to remain in a socially distanced seating area for 15 minutes in case we had a reaction. Then we walked back to our car and drove home, feeling a little bit entitled. Neither of us experienced after effects except for a slightly sore arm for a couple of days. Even after we receive the second dose a month from now, we'll still follow the same isolation, masking, and social distancing practices that we've been following for nearly a year. But it's reassuring to know that the possibility of our contracting Covid-19 is now vastly reduced. 


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