Hit Me with Your Best Two Shots

My wife and I got our first Moderna COVID shots this week. We had to be on the computer for a couple of hours before appointment slots opened. Others have had it much worse in this regard, so we were lucky. The shot was pretty painless and our left arms were a little sore for a couple of days, but that’s all there was to it.

OK,  so how do I REALLY feel? Well, I’m happy about the vaccine, of course, but must confess to a little guilt. All I had to do to qualify for my shot was be old, and therefore at risk. But aside from age, my life isn’t risky at all. I work from home, as I did even before COVID, and interact with very few people on the outside in person.

I have a relative who is just a couple of years younger than the minimum age for my vaccine tier. She works in a store, and while the clientele isn’t huge, she does have to serve different people every day. I would have been OK with surrendering my place in line to her, as I believe she’s in a much riskier space, but it doesn’t work that way.

This tier system is a form of discrimination. It will largely go away when the hundreds of millions of vaccine doses we keep hearing about become widely accessible. But then the real “fun” begins, discrimination-wise. The owner of a reopening business might decide that only those who can prove they have been fully vaccinated will be allowed to work there or enter the business as customers. You can’t discriminate on the basis of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, etc., but what happens when perceived safety is a factor?

I’m also wondering what happens when COVID and all its variants end. After World War II, there was V-E and then V-J Day. Will there be a V-C  or a V-P Day, for “Coronavirus” or  “Pandemic”?  I think those acronyms have been taken, and I’m sure we’ll think of something else. But just because it’s over here, when is it over globally?

Then what? First off, will there be  an orgiastic explosion of the economy? Not everyone is financially challenged, they have money they haven’t been able to spend. What is a ticket to a ball game going to cost and how far in advance will we have to buy it, or to make an airline reservation or book a hotel room, or even go out to dinner, just to beat the ecstatic crowds reveling in liberation? And after that phase, what will so-called “normal” life be like?

There are a lot of bridges to be crossed up ahead, and I guess I’ll sleep better at night if I wait till we come to them, or at least, get a little closer.