Within hours of the news release that I could register (by reason of age) for COVID-19 vaccination, I went onto my home computer and did so. The digital starting point for the task was the State of Indiana website (in.gov) or “ourshot.in.gov.” You could say that there were three steps, beginning with selection of a vaccination site. Then there was the registration followed by the first shot appointment.
For the vaccination site I selected the Medical Office Building at Munster’s Community Hospital. If you park in the parking garage, the pedestrian bridge to the next building North of the parking garage leads you straight to the Medical Office Building where the vaccination site is located on the third floor. For my first injection there was essentially no waiting until I spent 15 minutes in the “Observation Room” but only after the injection. While checking in at the Observation room I was able to schedule my second injection. My response to the first injection was much the same as my response (annually) to a flu shot: injection site soreness that mostly abates in a couple of a days. I noticed no fever nor any other side effect.
I arrived for my second shot. There was no pre-injection waiting. There seemed to be a shortage of patients for the number of nurses standing by. Apart from this general deficit in the number of patients, I noticed for the second time the absence of Black faces among the patients. I hope that my anecdotal observation is contradicted by actual statistics. By the way, racial identity disclosure was part of the registration.
That second shot was more impactful than the first. The arm soreness persisted to the third and fourth day. By the second (post-injection) evening I had a low grade fever which lasted about a week. I also experienced some abdominal cramping which may or may not have been related to my post-injection immune response. I do not regret the decision to be vaccinated. While I made my decision amid some uncertainty about side effects of the vaccine (the Pfizer vaccine for me), there was no uncertainty about the consequences of contracting COVID-19.
In considering whether to take the vaccine, a person should first consider the duty owed to one’s self. Then there is the duty owed to those near and dear and the duty owed to society in general. You should aspire not to be a source of re-infection of the virus, whether the victims of your contagion are family, neighbors, or strangers. You fulfill your duty to those groups by taking the vaccine in addition to the other familiar precautions. You should aspire not to be an incapacitated, contagious burden on family members or others. You should aspire not to generate huge medical expenses to be paid by others.
There is a moral obligation upon us to employ all available precautions against infection and re-infection. If you cannot see that, then be damned. If you become infected and pass your contagion on to others, you will owe a moral debt that cannot be repaid. If you become infected for disdaining the available precautions I may mourn your stupidity but not your illness or your death.
Apart from the slightest departure from Lake County when I drive the Illinois side of State Line Road, I have traveled outside my county of residence exactly twice in the year preceding this writing. Once was for business (to a courthouse in South Bend), and once was to visit downstate relatives. I have not entered a restaurant, tavern, theatre, or any other such place of gathering. I went to a local BMV branch once when I had no alternative. When I voted in person, I wore two masks and sanitized my hands when I finished. Though now vaccinated, I will continue to use a mask when such would be appropriate for the unvaccinated. I took a long bike-trail walk this past weekend. I encountered perhaps a couple of dozen bikers, joggers, dog walkers, and dogless walkers. The only face mask was the one that I wore, and I was likely the least at risk.
I recall nearly a year ago when the virus was making its inevitable, deadly intrusion into Chicagoland nursing homes. There was the report of a nursing home maintenance man dead of the disease. His surviving adult daughter teared up for the television cameras to praise her father for continuing to work at the nursing home despite being sick for days. I have no praise for the man though he most likely contracted COVID-19 without fault but bore fault for passing it on. Be responsible and save lives.
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