Giving It Your Best Shot

*Warning: This post is about Covid-19.

If you have already received your initial COVID-19 vaccinations, are you intending to get a booster shot when it becomes available to you? Why or why not? If you have yet to be vaccinated for COVID-19, are you intending to ever get vaccinated? Why or why not?

I was not able to get my first Covid-19 shot until relatively recently. This was initially due to not being able to get to the nearest venue easily without paying a lot of money for taxis and some anxiety about side effects. I was a little concerned because until the week that I had my shot the only option for my age group, the over 60s, was Astra Zeneca, which had some bad press. However, my concern was mainly that I didn’t want to be ill while living alone because I might not be well enough to care for the pets.

When Naomi moved in, I planned to go but we didn’t want to get our shots at the same time for the same reason, so she ended up going first. Anyway, I finally did get the shot and apart from feeling a bit headachy and tired for a few days I was OK. The gap between the first and second shots is still 12 weeks in Tasmania, so I must wait until just before Christmas to get the second one. I am going to ask if I can have it a bit earlier though. I don’t want to risk being sick at Christmas. Also, our state border will be open to all in Mid-December and they say that we will most certainly get Covid-19 in our state then even though we haven’t had it for months. I volunteer at the local visitor information centre, so I want to be sure I am protected properly when the people from the mainland states where there are still many cases start coming back.

Regarding boosters, they are not yet being offered to us although they are being planned for. However, when they are of course I will get one. I’m a bit puzzled about what I will have to have as Astra Zeneca is now being phased out so I suppose it will be OK for me to have Pfizer, Moderna or one of the others. If, as I suspect, we will need a booster every year like a flu shot every winter then that’s what I’ll have to do.

I’ve never heard of a vaccine that doesn’t stop you getting the disease before but at least it prevents you from dying of it.