— पाँच हजार चार सौ सत्तासी —
I got my 2023 covid vaccine yesterday. I was stupidly, pointlessly happy that it was the Pfizer as scheduled, just to maintain the consistency of that being the manufacturer of all of my four previous covid vaccine shots and boosters. And thanks to my handy digital vaccine card, I can tell you quite easily when I received all five doses: March 25, 2021; April 13, 2021; October 9, 2021; September 18, 2022; and October 9, 2023.
There were three in 2021 alone. But ever since then, one every year. Every fall. Which will probably continue indefinitely.
I didn't realize until looking through my Facebook Memories yesterday morning that I was getting the shot on the
two-year anniversary of the first booster back in 2021, which we lucked into at the postponed Pride festival at Volunteer Park, having been determined to be "close enough" to the recommended six months after our second of the first two vaccine shots. (Shobhit and I were both within days of it.)
The 2021 post made for a better photo to share, as Shobhit and I both had short sleeve shirts on that allowed for easy lifting of the sleeve. Yesterday, I wore a long sleeve, black button-up shirt without thinking. I figured I could just roll the sleeve up, and I did try, but we still couldn't get it high enough for where the pharmacist needed to get the needle into my shoulder. I still
took a selfie showing the band-aid on my shoulder, with my shirt halfway off. I wasn't comfortable enough with that photo to share it on my socials, though. I just added it to my "
Corona 2021: Vaccination" photo album on Flickr, to which I have added a few extra, vaccine-related shots as time has gone on. These include the photos Shobhit and I took at the Pride even in 2021; a couple of negative test results; and now the photo I took yesterday.
It appears I got the booster last year at Harborview Medical Center—what Shobhit had really wanted to be able to do again. Well, I think it's becoming so much more like the annual flu shot that it's being delegated more and more to pharmacies.
Mine this year was at my local Bartell Drugs pharmacy, at Harvard Market down on Broadway and Pike. I think I saw three other people in the store wearing a face mask. None of the three people working at the pharmacy wore masks.
I had one on, as I still do when I am inside stores. The young man who gave me my shot put one on just long enough for the three minutes or so that we were behind the door he took me through, into a tiny private space. I was baffled by this. Didn't these people go to college? Maybe he put it on just because I had a mask on and he was trying to make me feel better. Except I had already clearly seen that he was otherwise working without one on.
I totally get that people are over masks, and have been for a long time. Choose to wear one or choose not to wear one, fine. What baffles me is when people who do wear them use them improperly or inconsistently, as this guy did—
especially among any kind of medical staff. Allowing people in hospitals or medical centers to go maskless boggles the mind. The same could be argued of pharmacies, where people who are sick in one way or another come and go frequently.
I started to breathe a little heavy, and I told the guy that needles make me nervous. He said, "Me too." I was like, "What?" Sensing that I was thinking about how he clearly handles needles all the time, he said, "I'm fine administering shots, but when I'm getting one, I can't look at the needle." Okay. Weird.
The experience went so quickly it was kind of shocking. The flu shot I got in August, which didn't really hurt either, hurt more than this. I've felt slightly "off" overall since, but that part has been par for the course with these vaccine shots. Considering how wild some people's reactions are, I take it as a blessing, always.
Something new I thought about regarding the several exposures I had last winter: the theory that exposure without infection might have helped strengthen my immunity was one thing, but I
did also have the booster shot in September, which I'm sure actually provided more protection than anything. I'd sure love to not get it again ever, but, only time will tell. Sometimes even the most cautious people still get it, so luck is clearly a huge part of this whole game.
It's pretty nice that I've not been sick with anything
besides my one bout with covid in the spring of 2022, though. Before the pandemic, I took it for granted that getting sick or at least a cold at minimum once a year was unavoidable. It turns out that's not really true: layers of mitigation always make a difference.
— पाँच हजार चार सौ सत्तासी —
— पाँच हजार चार सौ सत्तासी —
My vaccine appointment was at 6:15, and I realized after a few minutes that the reason the first pharmacist I spoke to was confused was because I spaced and told him my appointment had been at 6:00. Oops.
In any case, I didn't want to make things too tight, so I did not walk all the way home from work first, and instead walked to Seattle Center to take the Monorail to Westlake Station, where I switched to Light Rail, then walked home from Capitol Hill Station, which typically shaves about 15 minutes off the hour it would otherwise have taken me to walk the whole way. I had the two leftover slices of pizza from dinner the night before.
Shobhit had a virtual board meeting from 6:00 to 7:00. I was gone for most of that time, leaving the condo at 6:00. I had to wait a while before I got my actual shot at Bartell Drugs.
After I got home, and the board meeting was over, Shobhit and I watched some TV. We finished up season 2 of
The Righteous Gemstones, then we caught up on the last two of the three episodes available of season two of
Our Flag Means Death, which I am really enjoying.
I didn't figure out until it was too late that, with the writers strike over, we've actually missed not one, but
two episodes of
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. I realized that when I saw last night that the twelfth and final episode of the
Strike Force Five podcast had been released, and they talked about having gotten back to work. Shobhit works 5 to 9 tonight, but maybe we can watch at least one episode after he gets home, if he gets home at a reasonable enough time. In the meantime, I still need to watch the season 2 premiere of
Loki on Disney+, which I am hearing mixed things about. I'm mostly motivated to watch it just so I can listen to discussions of it on two of my regular pop culture podcasts I listen to (
House of R and
The Watch).
— पाँच हजार चार सौ सत्तासी —
[posted 12:30 pm]
