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Monday, January 11, 2021

Rant #2,569: One Way Or Another



After the tumultuous week that just passed, I personally needed some time to get my head back on straight and to basically relax.
 
Happily, my son’s sports activities helped me to do that, as he went back to Friday night basketball and Saturday afternoon bowling, both of which had been on hiatus due to the coronavirus scare.
 
And since we are talking about the coronavirus, New York is moving into the next phase of the vaccine rollout, and while I don’t yet qualify, my mother does, since phase 1B allows her, and anyone over 75 years of age, to get vaccinated if they want to do so.
 
However, for whatever reason, New York State has not made public the places where my mother and others like her can get vaccinated, nor the phone number or email address or web site to be used to make an appointment to get the shot.
 
A few vaccination centers have been set up in state where she could get the vaccine, but as of Sunday evening, the other, more local sites have been talked about—local pharmacies among them—but no other information has been released.
 
That pertinent information should come sometime today, but it puts the entire system into a holding pattern, and more importantly, it will put an immense strain on the web site, which will certainly be visited by millions of people today looking to get their shots—not just those over 75 years of age, but others who are in phase 1B, and you know exactly what this is going to lead to—
 
CRASH!
 
And the phone line will probably also crash, and emails probably won’t be answered.
 
New York State should have learned from the experience it had on its Labor site related to unemployment early on in the pandemic when so many people lost their jobs and were trying to file for unemployment that such a situation is untenable, but evidently they haven’t learned this yet …
 
Unless they have learned what to do to make these sites and phone lines as expandable as possible, so a crash does not occur.
 
Somehow I doubt it, but I will be attempting to try to get my mother signed up for an appointment to get her vaccine later today, but already we have been told that even if one manages to sign up today, it might not be until April when they can get the initial shot of the two that they will need.
 
And in the same breath the government has told us that they hope to have everyone that wants the vaccine to be fully inoculated by April.
 
Yup, and I have a nice bridge to sell you if you believe that nonsense.
 
Talk really is cheap, even when it has to do with this scourge that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
 
And I also heard that a few days ago, a doctor who took the shot actually died from the side affects of getting the shot.
 
One thing that I have found that most people don’t realize is that every inoculation brings with it a level of danger, that not every inoculation will work the same way with everyone, and that some could have side effects, some very mild, like redness where the shot was given to much worse side effects.
 
I learned this years ago related to the shots I get each month for my allergies.
 
I have been taking allergy shots on a monthly basis for what will be 49 years later this year—that’s right, I have gotten my monthly shots each and every month since I am 15 years old.
 
Anyway, about 40 years ago, a woman on Long Island got her allergy shot, and she died from the immediate side effects of the shot.
 
I had been getting my allergy shots regularly from my doctor for a few years then, and I never had any side effects at all, and I could literally leave the doctor’s office once my monthly shots were given.
 
However, after this incident, I remember my doctor telling me that I had to sit and wait in the waiting room for at least 15 minutes to make sure that everything was OK, and I ended up doing this for about three months or so until the doctor pretty much told me that I wasn’t going to have any problems and that I didn’t have to do this anymore.
 
I have never waited afterwards after getting my monthly shots since, but this memory came up to me after I heard that the doctor had died after getting the coronavirus vaccine.
 
There is potential danger in every inoculation that you get, however minor that chance is, and what happened to that doctor—and to several other people around the country who have gotten the vaccine and have not responded well to it—are cases in point of this.
 
Thankfully, these reports have been rare, and an overwhelming majority of people getting the vaccine have had absolutely no negative effects after getting the shots, which is great news, but it is just something to be aware of.
 
And that is why I would prefer my mother get her shot in a doctor’s office, but that may not be possible.
 
As I try to get her signed up today, she will also be calling her doctor to see if he can administer it to her.
 
My mother is going to be 90 years old in March, and there is no reason at all to take any chances, even though knock wood, she is in excellent health.
 
So let’s see what happens today with her; as for me, as an allergic person, I think the jury is still out about whether I can get the shot safely at this point in time, but I am hoping that over the months between now and when it is made available to people in my age group, all the kinks will be worked out and I can safely get the vaccine if I want it.
 
In the meantime, I will ask my regular doctor and my allergy doctor about its safety on the someone like me, and I will ask these questions the next time I visit each one’s office, which will be later this month.
 
I was supposed to visit my doctor this week, but the appointment was postponed to later in the month, and I was supposed to get my allergy shots this weekend, but the office, unbeknownst to me, was closed on Saturday, so I will have to get my shot this coming Saturday.
 
So much to think about, but once things are in place, I am hoping that everything goes smoothly.
 
And after last week’s shenanigans, what we need is smooth sailing this week.
 
It will give me time to think about and pontificate about the next major thing to think about:
 
Can a president be impeached not once, but twice in his term, and can he also be impeached when he is no longer the president if the proceedings start while he still has time on his watch?
 
I have absolutely no idea or answer about these questions, but once these other things are set aside, maybe I can give me full thought process to those queries.
 
Right now, let me concentrate on helping my mother get on the vaccination schedule… let’s take one thing at a time.

Due to a very early doctor's appointment tomorrow, the next time I will speak to you will be Wednesday. Have a good Tuesday and stay safe!

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