The Vaccination Wars

It’s been almost a full year since this nightmare called Covid first began to impact our lives. We’ve been through it all, from not seeing our family and friends, to closed schools and businesses, to attending church on Zoom, to no travel and meals out and for some folks the loss of people we love. Almost 500,000 people who were with us this time last year are no longer here, it’s a fact that continues to get glossed over, I think we’re all just numb.

We lost a loved one, my dear sweet mother-in-law, she died alone in a nursing home 2 days before her 73rd wedding anniversary. It was only a few days before she passed that she was allowed very limited in person visits from her husband and sons. Her death was not directly from Covid but the fact she couldn’t leave her room for her daily strolls around the perimeter of the nursing home which forced her to stay in her chair 16 hours a day watching new channels, without the touch from her husband or sons or loved ones for 4 months, IMHO contributed to her premature passing.

So here we are in this next stage of getting a vaccination. For everyone who has not yet had the pleasure of trying to make an appointment in Massachusetts, I’d just like to share, scream, bitch and moan about the experience, in a nutshell it totally sucks, I won’t bore you with all the details, but here are just a few of the frustrations. You can’t make two appointments at the same time, which means if you want appointments to be together you should each open the site on your own phones and navigate together, think of it as the new date night! Secondly, in order to find out if there are appointments you will need to create accounts at the pharmacies and grocery store chains…so make sure you unsubscribe when you get the first email or they will clog up your inbox. I don’t even want to think about all the sites that have my information including birthdate and insurance information….yes you have to input everything before you find out if there are available appointments…

I’m frustrated because we’ve known about this for a year and in all that time our elected officials couldn’t develop a vaccine plan that would be easy for all to navigate. And that system would include real people you could call that would make your appointment if you didn’t have access to the internet.

As I was complaining on FB, I began to get messages from various people on where to try next, it felt good that even in this hot mess time, people still care for one another and try to help in any way possible. I’m glad in all of this, we haven’t lost the good parts of being human, the parts that want to help one another.

This experience made me think back to the 1980’s when the Cabbage Patch Kids were all the rage. We had three daughters and each wanted the coveted Cabbage Patch Kid for Christmas. My then husband and I searched far and wide for the elusive dolls, and this was before the internet where you actually had to physically go to the stores. Each week we would venture out on a hot tip hoping to score a deal….and feel defeated when we came home empty handed. Until one day, we struck gold, three dolls, priced a bit more than we had planned to spend but success! It was a great Christmas.

I’m confident that within the next few weeks hubby and I will be vaccinated, and with our dads vaccinated and several of our kids vaccinated because of their jobs, we may be able to gather together in the not too distant future and that’s what’s keeping me going right now….

Blessings and peace to you all