Dispatches from the Time of the Virus XIII: Keep Feeling (and Keep Getting) Vaccinations

My lovely wife Val Dunne and I received our second Pfizer COVID vaccinations April 2 at the Delavan Grider Community Center FEMA site in Buffalo. We did everything we could do over this past almost 1 1/2 years to avoid and fight this pandemic, and we've come out on the other side fine...so far. We urge EVERYONE who is eligible and has none of the few, rare medical reasons not to to get the COVID vaccinations, Save your life and others.

My lovely wife Val and I after we received our second Pfizer COVID vaccination April 2.

     We're thrilled and relieved to have made it to this point and continue to take all proper precautions; Val continues to work from home full time, and her health has improved in several ways; she has a major comorbidity which attacks her immune system, multiple sclerosis, which she fought and lived with before, during and when we get to it, after the pandemic. I never stopped going into the office to my Erie County Department of Social Services job in the Rath Building in downtown Buffalo, despite my 3 comorbidities, nor did I stop dealing with clients/the public, although it was in a reduced role. We were reduced to 50 percent in-office in March 2020, went to 60 percent by May and then 100 percent by the start of June 2020, and we started wearing masks before we went to a reduced in-office schedule.

     We are still wearing masks at work, but the rules have been eased a bit; at first, it was 100 percent at all times except when eating, drinking, etc., but now, if you are fully vaccinated (and 2 weeks past second vaccination) and at your desk basically isolated from others, you can take your mask off. You must wear masks when in contact with the public at all times and when entering or traversing pubic areas and similar situations. Personally, I continue to wear my mask at all times at work except when eating and so on, and will do so for the foreseeable future, and possibly/probably after we are told we can stop. We deal with people most often in the lower economic classes and situations at ECDSS, and sadly, these people frequently have the lowest or worst access to quality health care; they, as always, deserve to be treated with respect and quality interaction, but I plan to stay as healthy as I can and have through this pandemic and to bot spread the deadly virus, rare s that possibility is.

      The success of the vaccinations, and the success of the Biden Administration and other officials and companies in getting the production and distribution of the vaccinations greater and more successful than anticipated, while not perfect, has been amazing. I would never have believed just how effective the vaccinations would have been if you had told me this before their application. Anyone looking for me to give any credit to former President Trump for any of this process needs to fully accept Trump's responsibility for calling COVID-19 a hoax, repeatedly underplaying its urgency, pushing quack "treatments" such as hydroxychloroquine sulfate, insulting and trying to silence scientists such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, somehow suggesting bleach and lights to treat COVID-19, for not taking the pandemic seriously when he apparently contracted it and then, finally, getting vaccinated in secret with then First Lady Melania Trump.

     As per our specific vaccinations, Val had a few short-term side effects such as tiredness, soreness around the vaccine area and a bit of the blahs; I missed a couple of days of work after my first vaccination due to chills, fever, fatigue and the like, but I only felt some soreness and tiredness for the second shot and didn't miss any days from that one. My full-time immediate officemate, a normally very nice white male a few years older than me, is a conservative and Trump supporter. He did not get his vaccination until the Erie County designated times workers could take off from work without losing any time/pay to get the vaccines at vaccination events for county employees only; of course, they were timed with the end of the day so he could get the shot and go home. 

     There is so much more to write about, but I'll save it for next time, and yes, I know, it's been about 10 months since last entry; I won't let that happen again.