Today was vaccination day, the 1st of May, my birthday month, and the start of what feels like the final chapter in our COVID Journey. It’s just that I really hate needles.
The COVID UK vaccination roll-out is perfect. We got ahead of the game on research, development, and distribution. We had a plan and we executed it before the world blinked. Boris Johnson, despite being the worst PM and one of the worst humans in history, now has the mother of all comebacks to all his nay-sayers. No, he’s not Churchill, but COVID is his very own D-Day, which he’ll no doubt leverage for his own ill-gotten gains until he decides his time is done.
But I digress, today is the day. The booking system was as slick as you like, the app and the system worked eerily well considering the NHS’ track record with tech. So, here I was, waiting outside in line at 9am, Monkseaton Methodist Church on a sunny, crisp spring morning.
Clockwork. My appointment was 9:05, but even as I arrived, one of army of well-trained assistants was calling in the 9:00 appointments, and, all regimentally inline, 2 metres apart, we checked in with the calming rhythm of a heartbeat. No documentation needed. Just a mask and a name. Beautiful.
The Church venue itself carried its own significance and meaning. A place of worship, hope, and togetherness in our hour of need. You couldn’t call me religious by any stretch, but today? I got it. I felt it. Who else has made their venue available today? Who else made the effort? Who else cared for the local community? In a time of darkness and despair, what could be more fitting than lifting restrictions on a holy place, and dispensing vials of hope to the masses? No, you won’t be getting me to church on a Sunday anytime soon, but you have my gratitude.
I was ushered in through the various slick stages of registration and validation within the blink of an eye, arriving at the ‘needle seat’ fully prepped and aware. And that’s where the doubts crept in. I hate needles, I hate the thought of foreign bodies floating around my bloodstream, has this AstraZeneca vaccine been adequately tested? Why has the EU halted its rollout? What about the blood clots? Do I even need this vaccine as I was fine before? Am I just another sheep following the herd? Is this just the final stage of some world government conspiracy?
Take a breath, of course not. The small-talk had started and before I knew it my left arm was skewered as I tried to put on a brave face on it. The skin had been sliced open and the man-made chemicals had been pumped deep into the delicate harmonic balance and intricate inter-connected networks of the human body, still largely one of nature’s mysteries. For me, this will always feel unnatural and wrong because, well, my body told me so. Maybe a church is absolutely the worst venue for a vaccination centre after all.
But this is a sacrifice for the greater good, right? It’s about beating a virus, saving lives, and getting on with our own. Before I had a chance to analyse the human vs nature debate, I got to my feet and proceeded to the 15-minute holding area to dwell on it.
Now that the incision had been made, I could feel the rushed-out serum do its dirty business to my shoulder. Swelling, tightening, and festering like poison. Should I really be here? Should I have let nature take its course? My answer was, the last time I had taken a needle was giving blood, which, you could argue, is also unnatural, and it wiped me out, feeling like my very soul was being sucked out through the needle into a plastic bag. No, lives are important. People are important. The vaccine is important. My nausea passed.
Stepping back outside, I had no more doubts I’d done the right thing. The weight of the last year was lightened, I was optimistic, and it was coffee time!
I bounded into the coffee shop across the road feeling victorious and invincible. The monkey was off my back and the omnipresent niggle of worry had vanished. As I drove back home the I’ve been vaccinated Facebook profile pic had been updated and I wanted to be out. Out out! Celebrating.
Today felt like I’d got my life back. That I could plan ahead again for the first time in far too long. But, perhaps most of all, that I was safe, and the world just got that tiny bit safer.
Back in the game!
Have you had your COVID vaccine yet? What are your thoughts? Drop me a comment below…
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