Getting inoculated against COVID felt as good as we hoped - comment

Getting the first coronavirus vaccination on Thursday proved to be painless, both figuratively and literally.

By DAVID BRINN
The Jerusalem Post's David Brinn gets vaccinated for coronavirus, December 24, 2020 (photo credit: DEBI RUBIN)
The Jerusalem Post's David Brinn gets vaccinated for coronavirus, December 24, 2020
(photo credit: DEBI RUBIN)
On Thursday morning, I girded myself for a major balagan: long lines, arguments, tumult. Then, I remembered that everyone would be over 60.
Getting the first coronavirus vaccination on Thursday proved to be painless, both figuratively and literally. The massive lobby at Jerusalem’s Pais Arena was transformed into an efficient Maccabi Health Fund clinic. And everything was orderly, even subdued, as if we were so fed up with the last year of our lives, it wasn’t worth bickering or cutting in line to save a few minutes.
Despite seeing some 50 patients ahead of me, the numbers moved briskly – at least two a minute – so within a half hour, I was sitting behind a screen and raising the right arm of my black t-shirt to expose a shoulder that was expertly injected by a nurse with a pleasant demeanor and a formidable needle whose bark was worse than its bite.
Some ten months after COVID-19 unceremoniously entered uninvited into our lives, the first steps to lessen its impact were administered. And it felt great. Finally, we were being proactive and starting a process that should ultimately enable the world – and our normal daily routines – to open up again.
It was a morning of paradoxes. Getting inoculated as the country gets ready to enter yet another prolonged lockdown. It should have been a day of liberation, a proclamation of freedom. Those vaccinated should have been running around kissing and hugging each other – except we’re not out of the woods yet. There are millions of vaccinations and weeks and months to go before some semblance of normalcy can return.
Amid those sobering realities, walking out of the arena after being vaccinated felt like an accomplishment. And in spite of the facts that demand continued social distancing compliance, I adopted a confident gait like I had suddenly gained a force field around me that made me immune to the virus that is still spreading throughout the general population.
An utterly wretched year seems to be ending on an upward swing and perhaps the only development that could better it and make 2020 a triumphant year would be a vaccine to make Israel immune to another election but that may prove to be a thornier task for scientists than taming a pandemic.