Rant #2,773: Moment To Moment

So let me get this straight ... if you are an adult and live in New York City, you can get a coronavirus booster shot. The thinking is that the city is do densely packed with people that its population needs that extra level of protection that a third shot gives.
 
In other parts of New York State, you can get one only if you are at least 65 years of age, have some underlying reasons to get it, or are working in trades that come in contact with the public more than others.
 
But in New York City, you can get the shot virtually at any adult age.
 
Well, I have a question:
 
If I live on Long Island, let’s say, and I work in New York City, and I am of an adult age, does that mean I can get the booster shot at my lunch break?
 
And the governor of the state, Kathy “The Yokel” Hochul, applauds this latest maneuver, but leaves the rest of the state of New York as is.
 
Can someone explain this to me?
 
And as New York City becomes booster happy, Mayor Bill deBlasio announces that New Year’s Eve in Times Square will go back to normal, so a million people will congregate there on evening of December 31.
 
Sure, they all have to have their shots, but I ask you, how are they going to check people’s shot cards when they are coming into Times Square from all avenues?
 
Funny, the term “super-spreader event” is rarely used anymore, but wouldn’t you say that the one place you do not want to be in on New Year’s Eve is Times Square in New York City—not only is it cold, but people will be packed liked sardines there, and do you really think that people are going to wear masks and that everyone will have had their shots?
 
I would much rather watch “The Honeymooners” from the comfort, and safety, of my own home.
 
You wonder why we are all not on the same page about the virus and the shots, with so much absolute double-talk going on.
 
The CDC says one thing, New York City says another, and New York State even says something else.
 
If it can be double-talk here, it can be double-talk anywhere, and it’s up to New York to get things straight … yet everything is turned inside out and upside down.
 
And again, as the shots are not vaccine shots, the booster shots aren’t really booster shots, except the Moderna shot, which is sort of a half shot.
 
The Pfizer booster shot is simply a third shot, so it is not a booster shot.
 
The Johnson & Johnson shot is simply a second shot in a program that should have been two shots to begin with.
 
So again, the use of certain words and terms is misleading, and confuses the public, as did the use of the word “vaccine” for the original shots.
 
But leave it to our leaders to confuse matters and make people wary of even getting the initial shot.
 
Me, I have had my two shots since the beginning of April, and right now, I am too young to get the Pfizer booster shot, by just a couple of months, as I will turn 65 at the end of April 2022.
 
No booster shots, and no Medicare for me, just yet.
 
Now, I could probably fudge it, telling the doctor giving me the booster that I need it because of my living conditions, which include sharing a house with my 90-year-old mother, who got the Pfizer booster and swears that she will not get another shot like this again—not because of her reaction to it, but because she feels that it is “enough.”
 
Again, like after the first shots, she was tired the next day, had a lack of appetite, but these symptoms went away in less than 24 hours.
 
So I, personally, can’t get a booster shot right now, or maybe I could if I pushed it a little.
 
But honestly, I am in no rush to get one … it can wait until next year, when I feel sure that the New York City announcement about the shots will probably be extended throughout the state.
 
And even then, I don’t think I am going to rush to get it, but I eventually will get it, because my family and I plan on going on a cruise next year, a voyage that looks more and more doubtful as the months wear on.
 
Since these boats can be Petri dishes for the virus, the cruise lines are taking every precaution they can to assure the safety of the passengers and the crew, and we have heard that some of the measures are really invasive, and what's more, might add costs to what we have already paid for.
 
It probably isn’t the right time to cruise now, so I don’t think it is better than 50/50 that we will be going out on the sea next summer.
 
But things can change at a moment’s notice with this virus, so we will have to see what is what next year.
 
But right now, I am still too young to get both Medicare and a booster shot, so I have to live with what I already have …
 
And I think I will be OK.