Vaccine

For people of a certain age, meaning older people, the question that is asked with every new encounter with a friend is, “Did you get the vaccine yet?” It is like waiting for acceptance into an exclusive club. When just about all your friends say, “Oh, yes we got our shot”, very casually as if to say, “Of course, we got the shot, haven’t you?” You then have to sheepishly say you’ve been trying for weeks and you’re on nine lists waiting to be notified and you’re very frustrated. You know deep down that your vaccinated friends are thinking “Loser”. You wonder why they are being notified for an appointment and you’re not. You can’t get away from those pictures of that needle going into all those old arms. I wince with jealously every time I see it. It’s the lead story on every newscast. Millions of vaccines are on the way. President Biden says there will be enough vaccine available for every American by the end of May. But will there be one for me and my wife?

We registered on lists for the state, the county, several hospitals. We checked with the Rite Aid and Walgreen sites. No appointments available. We were making ourselves a little crazy. We tried to resign ourselves that as more vaccines became available, we’d finally get it. But we continued to feel like hostages while most of our friends had been released from captivity. How did they do it? What’s the matter with us? Should we be doing more? People suggested cold calling hospitals to see if they had any cancelations and were trying to use up those extra doses. And since we had no life, we could come over immediately to get that precious shot. In other words, why don’t we just beg and see if you can get lucky.

Then, when we least expected it, my phone dinged with a text about nine o’clock the other night while we were watching TV. I picked up the phone. What! It was a text from Jefferson Health saying I could go to their website and sign up for an appointment. Could it be true? Or was it one of my vaccinated friends playing a cruel joke? My wife and I jumped up and ran to the laptop. We frantically went to the site. Oh my God! It was true I could sign up for an appointment. I got one for this Friday at Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital in Philadelphia. Finally! But, wait. One problem. The appointment was only for me. Maureen was still being held hostage with the unvaccinated. She was very gracious about it. But I felt guilty. We both registered at the same time. Why was I called first?

The following night as we settled into bed and started our nightly reading, Maureen opened her Kindle. Her email came up. What! And email from Bucks County saying she could sign up for an appointment. The email was an hour old. We jumped out of bed and ran to the laptop again. We were a frantic that we were too late in responding or the sign up process would be timed. Maureen quickly went through the process. She made it to the end. She was in for an appointment the next day. She was getting it two days before me. No more guilt. Our year in the desert was coming to an end. We could see the oasis and it wasn’t a mirage.

We drove to the appointment yesterday. I went along to see what I might expect when I go on Friday. There were cars in the parking lot. We went in. The guy at the front desk checked the list for Maureen’s name. It was true. She was going in. I was told I had to wait in the car. She went in and I went out. I wasn’t sure how long it would be. But after waiting about ten minutes, she called me. She said she got the shot and was just waiting the fifteen minutes to make sure she didn’t have a reaction. We were pulling out of the parking lot after waiting one year plus a half hour. It’s good to be back.