July 2021
With the administration of COVID-19 vaccines continuing to gain momentum, we may have turned the corner on the pandemic.
More than ten million Ontario residents have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Four million of us are fully vaccinated, having received the recommended two doses of an available vaccine, all of which are approved by Health Canada for safety and effectiveness.
We are all telling our vaccine stories. This is mine.
When the initial shipments of vaccines arrived in Canada, correct protocols stated that people who needed the vaccine most should receive it first. Fortunate to have exceptionally good health and feeling at low risk, I thought someone like me should be somewhere near the bottom of the priority list. I was in no hurry.
“The best vaccine is the one you can get, when it’s your turn” became the public health mantra. I trusted and accepted their advice.
On Friday April 16th, I had an appointment to receive the Astra Zeneca vaccine over my lunch hour at a pharmacy in Fergus. There was no line-up, no drama, no fuss…and no pain! It was over quickly and I was back to work in the afternoon. The next day, I felt a bit of stiffness in my arm where the needle had gone in, but to call it pain would have been a stretch. My experience with Astra Zeneca could not possibly have been better.
After a day at Queen’s Park on Monday, June 21st, I had a late afternoon appointment to receive my second vaccine at the Centre Wellington SportsPlex. This time it was Moderna. Around 1,100 people received the vaccine that same day from the staff of the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit. I had read public health advice that AZ and Moderna combined to provide excellent protection from COVID-19. That was good enough for me. The next day, I had a bit of stiffness in my arm, but no ill effects whatsoever.
When the pandemic is finally over, we’ll all have our vaccine stories. And it will be those stories, taken together, that will give us our lives back.
