Joy! Joy! Joy!

This past week I was able to go online and schedule my COVID-19 vaccine.  While I may have already been vaccinated during the vaccine trial, this appointment made my vaccination definitive.  Once the vaccine date and time (This last week!) was set up, I felt such an emotional rush.  I was so happy!  I started to think about the future.  I thought of hugging my son in Boulder, CO.  I thought of hugging my brother and sister.  I thought of visiting my 90-year old aunt.  I thought of hugging my dear friend here in SLC.  It was so beautiful.  My heart was about to explode.  Tears were running from my eyes.  I never expected to feel such strong positive emotions over a shot!  It was beautiful.

My first step after scheduling the vaccination was to contact the lab that I’m doing my vaccine trial with.  They tried to push me aside.  They said, “Even though you’re over 50, that doesn’t mean you have the vaccine.  We can’t unblind you until you have a vaccination appointment.”  Ha!  I was scheduled for the vaccine in 3 days.  Still, they had to email the doctor running the study, and then I would have to wait a day or 2 for him to call me and let me know if I got vaccine or saline in the trial.  Okay, I would wait.  If the doctor said I had vaccine, I could cancel my appointment.

As promised, 2 days later the doctor called.  He asked me what I thought had received.  Really?  I had no clue.  I gave my arm up for the study, and I got a shot.  Actually, I got 2 shots: one 57 days after the first one.  I didn’t know what I had been injected with.  The doctor paused.  Like a really pregnant pause.  Come on!  Tell me already!  It turns out I got the placebo.  No problem.  I had an appointment for the vaccine the next day.  He told me that I was still a part of the trial and still needed to show up for all of my appointments.  Okay, you want to pay me to just show up at your office?  I’m game for that.

Then came the day of my official vaccine appointment.  I was busy on a call just before I had to leave for the appointment.  When I finally hopped in the car, I was concerned I might be a couple of minutes late.  Would I miss my appointment?  As I drove down the road, feelings of freedom came to me.   The world might open up soon!  It was hopeful.  I could feel my eyes starting to leak again.   I began to think about what got me here.  Just a year ago (to the day!), my 6-week trip to Asia had been cancelled.  My world had started to get smaller and smaller.  More and more people were getting sick.  More and more people were dying.  Through all of that, physicians and nurses worked to save peoples lives.  Scientists broke records to create the vaccine I was about to receive.  I felt so much gratitude.

When I arrived at my appointment, I had minutes to spare.  I walked into the building (a movie theater!), and there was a line of about 8 people waiting for their vaccine.  A woman called me over.  “Hello!  Are you ready for your vaccination?”  She was smiling,  or at least I think she was smiling.  That was the vibe I got from underneath her mask.  She validated my ID and sent me on down the line.  Soon I was sent to a desk where another presumably smiling woman verified who I was and quickly gave me a shot.  That was it.  I didn’t even see the needle.  Now I was vaccinated - or at least halfway.  I would have to come back again for the second shot in 3 weeks.

I sat and waited for 15 minutes.  That’s the recommended time they have patients wait after receiving the vaccine.  They want to make sure you don’t have an immediate reaction.  I had to wait the same 15 minutes when I got my saline (since the vaccine study didn’t know it was saline).  After 15 minutes, another woman who seemed like she was smiling came up and asked, “Are you feeling okay?”  “Yes,” I told her.  “Great!” She said, “I love hearing that from everyone!”  I was free to go.

As I drove home, I thought about my experience.  Everyone was so kind and happy.  They seemed genuinely grateful to be bringing health back to everyone.  I thought about how fortunate I was.  I was alive in 2021.  When in the history of mankind were we able to fight a pandemic with a vaccine that took under a year to develop?  I thought about the scientists and lab studies that went into creating this vaccine.  And there’s not just one vaccine!  There are 3 in the US alone!   

I know that our fight is far from over and COVID is here to stay.  But knowing that we have a way to bring peace of mind to this country and we will soon be able to gather again makes my heart so very happy.