A Vaxxing We Will Go

At least that’s what I hope will happen, based on yesterday’s news from the governor. He moved individuals 65 and older (guilty) up in the priority list, just behind 75-year-olds in Phase 2. The 75-year-olds can start getting the Covid vaccine on Monday and we’re right behind that in priority. It can’t happen soon enough. I’ve watched with bemused consternation as the antivaxxers come out of the woodwork to spread their misinformation. Sadly, there is no vaccine for stupidity and these fringe beliefs have used the tidal wave of social media to main stream their idiocy, trying to overcome hundreds of years of progress in public health.

I’ve always believed being part of a society carries with it a responsibility to sacrifice for the good of the whole on subjects like public health. If we’re going to live in this huge quagmire together then we owe it to each other to benefit from the science and technology that has dragged us out of the literal “dark ages”, not that long ago, historically speaking. Billions of people have died over the past hundred of years to get us to a place where we can overcome some of Mother Nature’s deadliest population control measures – disease. It’s astounding that our scientists were able to produce an effective vaccine within a year.

There are some people out there who revel in being a contrarian, latching on to whatever weird theory and/or conspiracy. Their level of proof seems to be, as long as it conforms to what I think/hope/believe then it must be right, despite a lack of facts. Prior to social media these nut jobs would sit in their parents’’ basement and lather away at an unfair world. Again, the operative phrase being – “before social media”. Now they can spread their literal poison where good people, with less virulent beliefs, can be swayed and the entire society endangered.

Wow. I just wandered down a rabbit hole where some of my own personal beliefs are in full view but, c’mon, you have to have some form of brain damage to not appreciate what vaccines have done for mankind. Wingman has volunteered to help my Favorite Panamanian and I wend through the bureaucracy to get appointments when we’re eligible. Ask yourself if you’re not willing to take a little jab in the arm and some minor side effects to drive a stake in the heart of this virus which has robbed us of the past year.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn