Time to roll up your sleeves

Brian Knox

For the last year and a month, I’ve been keeping a COVID-19-related journal.

In the pandemic’s earliest couple of months, I wrote daily. The entries became a little less frequent after that – weekly to every couple of weeks – but I tried to document what was going on not just on a state and national level but even at a Wise County and family level.

I looked back at some of those earlier entries this past weekend to get an idea of the progress we’ve made and the work that remains.

Those early entries captured the uncertainty of what exactly we were facing and how long it would last. There was so much we didn’t know at the time.

As of a few weeks ago, I’m fully vaccinated. While it seems like we’ve been in this pandemic for a long time, I couldn’t help but think if my 2021 self could have told my early 2020 self that I would be fully vaccinated in about a year. I think my slightly younger self would have been elated.

If you remember, in those early days it seemed like it could take years to develop a vaccine. It’s been a monumental scientific achievement that not only did we get a vaccine created (several vaccines, actually) and approved for emergency use within a year of the start of the pandemic, but that they are also so effective in clinical trials and in early real-world results.

And even when the first vaccines were approved in December, we weren’t sure how long it would take to vaccinate people. The fact that all adults are now eligible for the vaccine is another wonderful thing to celebrate.

But I’m beginning to think not everyone shares my enthusiasm. Wise County’s vaccination rate has continually lagged the statewide percentage. As of Sunday, 17.7 percent of eligible Wise County adults had been fully vaccinated against the virus, compared to 22.1 percent statewide, according to information compiled by the Texas Tribune. I did a quick search of county-by-county vaccination rates and found that Wise County was in the bottom 50 out of 254 counties in vaccination rates. Among our contiguous counties, only Cooke County had a worse percentage rate, 15.5 percent.

I don’t feel like the number is low due to a lack of available vaccines. Wise Health System seems to have had a steady supply, and I’ve noticed people being vaccinated in places like CVS Pharmacy on recent trips to the store.

WHS announced last week it declined last week’s vaccine allocation due to a surplus. The demand is just not what it was earlier in the vaccination period.

That’s a bit concerning when most health experts tell you we will need to reach 75 to 90 percent fully vaccinated to reach herd immunity. We’ve made so much progress, but we still have a long way to go.

While I realize everyone’s vaccine experience is different, I had very few side effects with mine. On the first shot, my arm was a little sore for a couple of days. With my second shot, I actually experienced much less arm pain than my first, but I was really tired the next day. But after that, I was back to normal.

The vaccination process itself couldn’t have been easier. The entire process, from filling out brief paperwork to going back to get vaccinated to sitting in the 15-minute waiting area probably took less than 40 minutes.

On Thursday and Friday, WHS will even have a walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinic, no appointment necessary. The Moderna vaccine will be administered 8:30 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday. The Pfizer vaccine will be administered 8:30 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. Friday. Those ages 16 and 17 can only attend Friday and must be accompanied by parent or guardian.

So I encourage you, if you haven’t, roll up your sleeves and get the vaccine, and let’s put an end to this pandemic, which has claimed so many lives and disrupted so many others.

Brian Knox is the Messenger special projects editor.