Vaccine Day Diary

Vaccine Day Diary Part I

Today is the day I've been waiting for since that fateful day in March of 2020-it's vaccine day! Today, me and my friends will board the bus and leave the safety of our little school, venturing out into the city to a hotel.. We will wear our masks like armor, just us and a tiny piece of fabric against the world. We will sit in  folding chairs in the ballroom and a state employee will stick a needle into our arms, inoculating us against fear. When my mom went to the convention center in downtown Boston for her first dose of Pfizer's ambrosia, the navy was there! The national guard! it was easy and a little bit terrifying as she told it. I can only hope it goes as smoothly for me.

One of the girls here is afraid of needles-I wonder how she'll do. I guess I'm nervous, too, but this vaccine is my key to the locked door of the future. Some people think it has a microchip in it, I joke that I'll be getting austim^2.

I also think about my ten year old sister. The shot is not approved for people under 16, but I heard it'll be approved for 14 and above pretty soon. Regardless, she'll be wearing a mask to school in the fall. Maybe I won't. 

I think that, once most of the population is vaxxed, we'll still see people wearing masks in public places-concerts, fairs, airplanes. The mask will be like they are in some parts of Asia, that is, normalized for things like smog and crowds. 


Vaccine Day Diary Part II

I wore my Great Gatsby costume to get a vaccinated-straw boater hat, suit jacket and bow tie. You only get the first dose of the Covid vaccine once after all! It was a surreal experience throughout. We went to the back of the hotel, got our temperatures checked ,answered a few questions, and entered a large carpeted room where a speaker was playing the macarena. I sat down at table number five, managed to fill the vaccine card in incorrectly and had to redo it and then-bam. A needle in my arm. Easy as pie. I got my forms filled out and sat down with a friend to wait for the mandatory fifteen minutes while the cotton eyed joe played. It was a historic moment. It was nothing at all. It was ordinary. It was extraordinary. 


 

roxyforthewin

MA

YWP Alumni

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