Vaccine clinic - observations from Day 2

First published on NextDoor, Friday, February 5.  Hi there, again! I thought I’d give you a wee update on the vaccine clinics based on my observations from volunteering again today. Today’s numbers were amazing again – roughly 600 vaccinated and they’re anticipating about 1,200 tomorrow! As I mentioned in my earlier post, they’ve adjusted the flow to have folks come in through the garage so nobody has to stand outside. This is much better for the elderly, but I do want to caution you that the garage is still cold! So if you’re bringing your elderly Mom or Dad or neighbor, have them bundle up. And if you have a walker or wheelchair, please bring it along. We didn’t quite have enough on hand, though I think they’ve reached out to the hospitals for more. I’m not sure we can ever have enough though. And I do also want to point out something that should have been blindingly obvious to me, but wasn’t. The 600 frontline healthcare workers, teachers and emergency response personnel from last week look vastly different to the 600 mostly elderly folks I saw today. For one, many today had caregivers with them – their spouse or their child or their home healthcare aid. So 600 was a heck of a lot more people hanging around in line, both outside and inside. And everyone just moved that little bit slower … there were the walkers and the wheelchairs and the canes and the just slightly infirm. Another complication for the organizers was juggling two different protocols. Today, the first dose was Pfizer, but for those getting their second dose, it was Moderna. I don’t know if there are different defrosting times, but I know that there are different numbers of doses in a vial, and numbers of vials to a batch. That math just makes my head hurt, and obviously presents a challenge to the dispensing staff. The upshot was that things weren’t as fast or as smooth as last week. Please know that this is no-one’s fault. Not the clients, nor the county staff organizing the clinic. It’s just the nature of the beast. Speaking of nature … it’s natural for folks to get a little grumpy when they see that they’ll have to stand in line, or hear that we’re running 30 or so minutes behind, or realize that their appointment time doesn’t bear too much resemblance to reality. I’m delighted to say that the vast majority of people didn’t give into that temptation. Some did. And I saw the effect that had on the volunteers and staff who came inside and had tears in their eyes or that spark of happiness was momentarily gone. Folks – you’ve waited a year for this. You can wait another hour or so. Right? Remember that we are all doing this because we want to. With a passion. We want to make a difference – not on the anonymous masses, but on our neighbors and the elderly who may be stand-ins for our own parents many thousands of miles away. Please imagine that these lovely people are your own daughters and sons helping people in another town in another state. One of the things that delighted me today was chatting with So. Many. People! It’s been a year of interacting within our bubble, or with people we already know. Today I got to hear accents from all around the world, chat about cycling in the snow, and learn about a veteran’s experienced in Europe. I loved every minute of it. Down to the advice part of today’s post. Dress for waiting in the cold garage, bring a walker or wheelchair or small portable chair if you or your loved one really needs it, be patient, say thank you at every opportunity, and simply embrace this as a cause of celebration. Thanks to the efforts of an incredible global village of scientists and funders, staff and volunteers, you’re going to get something that’s guaranteed to change your lives. Hope to see you in line some day!