COVID-19 Vaccines: An AstraZeneca Home Run!
I saw my vaccine journey come full circle with my second dose of vaccine being completely unlike my first dose. My first dose of AstraZeneca involved quietly lining up at the Regina drive-thru - or more appropriately the drive-stop-drive-stop-drive-stop - for several hours in the pre-dawn hours of a cool March morning. My second dose had me ripping through the drive-thru obstacle course at 10 kilometres an hour like my Nascar win was only one lap away. I had lucked out by arriving at suppertime one night when others had decided to eat first and vaccinate later.
Since my first dose of AstraZeneca, there has been enough written on the topic of related blood clots to boggle the mind. A quick Google search for “AstraZeneca and blood clots” netted 11,800,000 results in 0.60 seconds. Pretty impressive. As a result, many people have asked me, would I still have AstraZeneca for my second dose? For most people, that decision has to be a personal one. For me, I knew that by simply getting out of bed in the morning, I had already risked a greater chance of developing a blood clot than what AstraZeneca was statistically capable of delivering.
What I was more interested in was how other people were feeling about their decision to receive AstraZeneca for a second dose. In discussing this with my outstanding immunizer (how can the province of Saskatchewan have this many people with top notch needle skills?), I asked about the reaction people were having to AstraZeneca. I will call her “Maggie” as that was the name conveniently written at the top of her visor. She said that people had been extremely gracious and appreciative of their second dose of AstraZeneca. Even those who had waited in line for as many as four hours had nothing but praise for the work that was being done to get everyone a vaccine who wanted one.
I then watched as Maggie joined her two colleagues at a single station to draw my vaccine. She returned explaining that because the line was momentarily slow, they would all draw from the same vial to ensure that not a single drop was wasted rather than opening several bottles and potentially having unused vaccine at the end of the night. Even with the many demands placed upon them, they still respected that all vaccines are good vaccines and not a single drop should be wasted, no matter what the name on the bottle says.
I personally chose to stick with AstraZeneca, as I continue to believe that all vaccines contribute to freeing us from what has been a seemingly endless battle against this invisible enemy. The only real way to now #FinishTheFight is to make sure you get a second dose of whatever vaccine you choose.
Your decision may not be the same as mine, but the most important thing is to remember to #StickItToCOVID!
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