It has been a very long time since I last live-blogged an event. This day is probably like no other day ever in terms of personal significance as a life altering event.
I am a tumultuous mess of emotions as I remember a similar scene from when I was a little girl as my mother took my brother, sister and I to have our childhood diseases vaccinations.
Mum was holding my sister firmly, I clearly remember that. My sister was ok with the medication cup although she definitely did not like the way that it tasted. But when it came to the injection she was screaming almost instantly when the needle was inserted. She went from calm and trusting to bitterly betrayed in a split second.
My fear of needles stems from that very day.
Now, I sit here knowing that if there is a serious containment breach in Perth there is a good chance that I will become seriously ill from this damned virus, this COVID-19 as it is called.
I am both deeply grateful as well as desperately saddened that I have the opportunity for this vaccination.
Grateful for obvious reasons, but also saddened because I know that there are so very, very many people all around the globe who are still desperately waiting for supplies to arrive in their country.
Feeling humbled by the sheer magnitude of effort that is going into beating this ducking virus.
Grateful for all the staff here who are dedicated to ensuring the smooth delivery of services.
This room is full. They must be administering hundreds of doses a day.
This time 100 years ago they would have done anything to be in our shoes, with the technology that we have at our disposal now. My grandparents arrived into Australia around that time and brought with them memories of the Spanish flu that had ripped through the world at that time. My grandmother lost a baby sister in that pandemic.
Still feeling apprehensive although a little less so in the atmosphere of quiet competence that all the staff running this show are demonstrating.
I feel blessed that in only a few more weeks I will then be fully vaccinated and it is my sincere hope that the delta thing just fizzles itself out before it breaches WA borders again.
Thinking of all the people who have been involved in the development of this vaccine and how many thousands of years of knowledge have gone into this thing … I almost can’t imagine it … yet simultaneously, I can.
I think that the tipping point for future pandemics has been reached and that there is a distinct possibility that humanity will never have to live through this experience again … at least that is my deepest hope. We have reached the point where, provided there is adequate and timely identification of the risk, we can knock another virus on the head before it does this to us again.
The conspiracy theorists may have some validity to their puerile bleating … the thing is that if they are correct and this virus is not as deadly as forecast then the whole purpose of this exercise is our best chance of ensuring that a “real” death threat can be defeated early.
And if that is the real point … I am still happy, although I STILL HATE NEEDLES … still happy to #Rollup4WA for my brothers and sisters everywhere.
My turn next … here come the tears.
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10 minutes later
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I am proud to announce that I now have had my first Pfizer jab.
For now I am content to post as is, spelling and grammatical and auto correct errors and all.
I will pretty up this blog post later. Done.
Thank you ~ blessed be.
