Plague Journal, Vaccination
Yesterday we received the first of two vaccinations to immunize us from the coronavirus. We received email notice from the Kane County Health Department that an appointment was offered. I felt a reaction of relief, of thanksgiving. Upon receiving the Moderna vaccine, if I should become ill, I am unlikely to be hospitalized or worse. Those neighbors residing along the Fox River Valley who fill a post for the county health department, or the State of Illinois, and maybe for the Federal government, suddenly grew in importance. Whether my future is to be healthy, or fraught with a deadly illness, hinged upon their professional competence.
The Kane County Vaccination Center was at Elgin Community college. We arrived for our appointment and joined the line moving through the security check at the front entrance. I noticed several Sheriff Department vehicles parked prominently near the building, and a number of officers directing the flow of arrivals. Security had not been an afterthought.
We entered the gymnasium, the floor of which was furnished with tables, placed at social distance, staffed by medical personnel. We received our shots, our QR code was scanned to archive our presence, to assure that we’d be notified for our second shot in several weeks. Then we relaxed for a few minutes to make sure that we’d not experience side effects. From my vantage point all was handled with professionalism, courtesy, efficiently immunizing those of us most at risk.
I heard hours later in an evening newscast that the Biden Administration launched 441 COMMUNITY VACCINATION CENTERS since taking office in January. The federal government provided critical support in the form of personnel, funding, and/or equipment to help establish these centers across the nation.
Could I expect any less from a government “for the people, by the people, and of the people?” In the back of my mind though came the nagging, spectral reminder, that things could and would be different if the result of the election of November 6th had been different.
The nation would approach herd immunity over a agonizing arc of many months, with an ascending toll of casualties. In the republican dystopia, — no message of hope for those most at risk in the pandemic. And certainly no focus on getting has many of us vaccinated, as quickly as possible.
