Are you as tired of hearing about seasonal flu shots as I am? Enough is enough. For some reason, everyone seems to be concerned about getting flu shots. We have flu every year, but this year the pundits are going into overdrive about it. When will they be available? Will they run out?
Last week Sheila and I were in the East End Mall. I was going to Staples and she to the drugstore and then to the Dollar Store looking for bargains. Our destinations were at opposite ends of the Mall.
Upon leaving Staples, I spotted her near the other end, frantically waving her arms to catch my attention. “Oh no,” I thought. “Had she taken a dizzy spell or was the pizza place closing early?”
She had been at the Pharmacy when the vaccines came through the door, so she asked about the seniors shots. Breathlessly she blurted out to me, “We get them in half an hour so we better hurry.” 30 minutes isn’t that much of a hurry, I muttered.
We were at the Pharmacy on time but still waiting in the wings for longer than I anticipated. Customers who had forgotten to pre-order life-saving meds and were panicking needed immediate service. I was restless. I began using the blood pressure machine. Each reading was a few points higher – keeping in tandem with my frustration. Finally, I was called – the first one to be injected.
I heard only days later that appointments were scheduled weeks into the future and that many pharmacies had run out of vaccines. I felt complacent but a little remorse for those stressed about when they would get theirs. Not accustomed to doing things on time, the impact of getting my shot early was a good lesson.
The most important way to keep from getting any virus is to wash your hands, wear a mask, avoid crowds and remember to social distance, and that warning rate was escalating because getting flu and the Coronavirus together would be a double whammy. But habits are hard to change. Some people don’t care about vaccinations and others too complacent to bother getting vaccinated or do what they always do.
Almost overnight, it seemed everyone had become aware of how dangerous seasonal flu can be. Maybe it took being hit over the head with a pandemic baseball bat to wake the rest of people up to the flu risks during this pandemic period.
Funny, I don’t remember flu ever being called seasonal flu until this year. Suddenly plain old regular flu has gone by the wayside. The health units don’t want us to get the two vaccinations mixed up. Some people might get the ridiculous idea that regular flu shots will protect us from that nasty old Covid-19 bug.
Because of the Coronavirus people will get shots who never, ever had a flu shot before. There are many official statements saying the seasonal flu shot does not protect anyone from Covid. Although I’ve gotten the flu shot for many years and have never been sick, but this was the first time for the more potent seniors injection. I wondered if it helps with my other declining potencies?
When it comes to the Coronavirus vaccine, the government could set priorities on who can have it. Kind of scary when the government starts saying who can be protected from an epidemic, isn’t it? But obviously health care workers must be first in line when the Covid vaccine is available. Seniors next, I hope.
Some people, however, have decided that the flu shot is more dangerous than the flu. And they are probably the same people who will think a vaccination is more dangerous than Covid. Lucky for them, if the rest of us get the shot, we aren’t spreading germs around to infect the protesters who don’t; thus, the infamous “herd immunity” we hear so much about.
Personally, I’m a believer in getting vaccinated. If everyone decided they didn’t need to be immunized, we would still have horrific preventable diseases like polio – diseases long ago abolished thanks to wide-spread vaccination programs.
I’ll take my chances with the vaccine. Maybe, just maybe, there will be enough people that think like me to get this pandemic under control.
Now excuse me while I wash my hands again, put on my mask, avoid crowds, and remember to social distance.
