Finally, vaccinated!
I was beginning to feel it takes a village for individuals to get vaccinated. Why, you may ask? First, when my mom called me, we live on opposite coasts in the USA, and asked how to fill out her vaccination consent form I knew this would be a challenge for many seniors. Software developers don’t think about arthritic fingers hitting specific spots, or wrong choices, on a computer or tablet screen, print-type needing to be a larger size to be seen by failing eyes, or understanding that not all people know how to scroll from place to place or page to page. But my mom had a stylus and I downloaded the form too; we went through it and all was completed. Thankfully it was her local legislative office staff that helped arrange and confirm the vaccine appointment and my sister who drove her to her appointments.
I am now aware of “guardian angels” who are helping senior citizens with paperwork and getting to their two appointments, especially for seniors not living in nursing homes where most had the process facilitated by their staff. For myself, my help came from a tennis friend who knew of a “pop-up” location. Unfortunately I missed that opportunity. Then my friend texted me of the arrival of thousands of vaccine doses within the next days. I immediately searched the provided website, registered, and received my first dose of the vaccine 4 days later! This was a huge accomplishment because I had been registered in 3 other places and on one wait list for more than a month, but now in a matter of a few clicks I was on my way to being vaccinated.
Kudos to all who volunteered at the University of Arizona to direct vehicle drivers through a very organized maze: 1) personal identification and check of appointment registration, 2) info provided about the vaccine and asking about each person’s allergies or recent surgeries, etc, 3) car engine off, sleeve rolled up to receive the shot after again being asked again about our health, and 4) we moved our car to another location where a person was checking in on us all as we waited 15 minutes and, if need be, arranged second dose appointment before we could pull away from the area. They even had another person pulling a wagon of water and crackers from car to car for people needing some food or drink. For the volunteers working in this desert heat and recent winds, I hoped they were all staying hydrated too.
There were hundreds of volunteers working to get us all vaccinated at this site! I was pleasantly surprised while receiving my second dose that it was a local bicyclist I know providing me with my vaccination; it is a small world!
So in the past 3 weeks there have been almost 150,000 people vaccinated at the University of Arizona Tucson site and when they reach that goal, they will start their count again. Please get vaccinated soon so we as a country do not have another wave of the virus and that if you do get the virus you are protected enough not to die from it. There is plenty of scientific information about the vaccines and videos explaining it all, so check out what you need to get answers to any questions you may have. Knowledge is power so you make the best decision for yourself.