GET. THE. DAMN. SHOT!!

A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

I’m writing this with a very sore upper left bicep, from having gotten my bivalent Covid vaccine shot yesterday. That’s good news! I means I have a strong immune response to the new shot, which means I will have good protection in ten days after things have had time to settle in.

I went to the local Walmart, where as a walk-in it took about 10 minutes total time (sadly, that’s probably because there was only one other person there to get the shot), and it was free on my Medicare card.

This new shot is important. For the first time, they are rolling out Covid vaccines updated to match variants that are currently dominant, as well as the original strain. The result is that this bivalent character will not only provide a better response to the most threatening variants today but probably to future variants. That’s because when the immune system faces different versions of the same virus it generates broader protections overall.

Not only will a booster with the new vaccines decrease the likelihood of infection and severe illness and help reduce transmission of the virus; it could also decrease the likelihood of developing long Covid, which is very dangerous to people the age of most of us at this site. It’s now believed that long Covid has as a side-effect making the onset of Alzheimer’s more likely.

But there is bad news.

The boosters are getting so little fanfare, and so much unfounded skepticism, that too few people might get them; this means people who need not get sick, suffer or die will get sick, suffer or die.

A C DC national survey found 72 percent of respondents said they were likely to receive an updated booster.

But to actually get them vaccinated requires making the boosters easily accessible and making sure people know about their benefits. Hey! If they’re at your local Walmart, they’re accessible!

Dr. Ashish Jha said people might consider getting the booster when they get flu shots. That’s what I did.

However, only about half of adults in the United States get the flu vaccine, and most haven’t gotten the earlier Covid boosters. I don’t know why people are so damn stupid! The last time I managed to not get a flu shot was in 1999, and when I got the flu it floored me for 10 miserable days. I haven’t missed on since and I haven’t had the flu since. It still kills me that Burl Burlingame, one of the best modelers and leader of the leading Ukele Rock Band in Honolulu, and general overall Contributor To A Good Life managed to miss getting his shot in 2019 when there were two varieties going around. As he was starting to recover from the first variety, he caught the second. And now I have to refer to him as the late Burl Burlingame. Not nice. And it was completely unnecessary, which really pisses me off to consider.

Boosters are especially helpful for older adults or those with existing health issues — but such groups often face challenges navigating access. Last year, there were campaigns to bring vaccination to senior centers and convenient community locations, and to help people make it to vaccination centers and even get vaccinated at home.

Get. The. Damn. Shot!!!

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