Have you been COVIDoom scrolling lately and stumbled into some friend or acquaintance or maybe even an enemy, if you\u2019re slow to pull the trigger on Unfollow or Unfriend, bragging about the fact that they\u2019ve had their COVID vaccination, a remark usually made knowing full well that you likely haven\u2019t got yours yet?<\/p>\n
They call it their \u201cgolden ticket\u201d and include a photo of getting a shot (\u201cI didn\u2019t feel a thing!\u201d they say, stifling a giggle), or a filled-out CDC card reminding them of their second shot appointment, which will give them eternal life, as if there\u2019s no longer anything to fear. They can cross the street anywhere without looking, because a speeding car would just bounce off of them like it was made of party balloons.<\/p>\n
Whereas you, on the other hand (it is implied), must continue to cower in your hall closet that\u2019s been converted into a home office, grinding your teeth at the smugness of the golden-ticket holder, seething with something: rage, jealousy, an urge to seek revenge, a sickening suspicion that no loving and caring God could exist that would allow this person to get a golden ticket while you continue to feel like you\u2019re inviting peril by petting your cat.<\/p>\n
GQ Magazine even reports that men are bragging about having been vaccinated on dating apps, in an effort to make themselves even more super-attractive.<\/p>\n
You can find examples of vaxx-elation in a couple of Facebook minutes. Or Or, “Date me! You won’t catch anything!” on Zoosk. People getting shots and crowing about it, all but saying, \u201cSo, I\u2019m good now. How \u2018bout you? Still hiding in the attic?\u201d<\/p>\n
Even worse are people brag-complaining online about getting chills and aches the day after getting their second shot. When my sister<\/a> was in her fourth day in the ICU with COVID, she thought she was going to die, and I don\u2019t think she imagined that chills would be a bad thing compared to the pain and suffering and slow suffocation she was feeling.<\/p>\n Happily, she survived and recently got her vaccinations and, yeah, she posted photos of her getting her shots, but leave her out of this. She\u2019s my sister. As chief administrator of vaccinations, I would give anyone who\u2019s already suffered with the coronavirus first dibs on the vaccine, along with the attendant bragging rights.<\/p>\n Slowing the pace toward a return to whatever sort of normalcy we can expect are the hordes of anti-vaxxers<\/a>, or as the less-militant, less zany-conspiracy-believing are called, “vaccine-hesitant.” Not everyone is shoving their way to the front of the line.<\/p>\n A Kaiser Family Foundation poll last month<\/a> found 68% of people were hesitant to get vaccinated because they say the long-term effects of the vaccine are unknown (while those of us in a certain eligible age group may only be concerned about the short-term effects); 59% worry about serious side effects; 55% believe the vaccines are not as safe as they\u2019re touted to be; and 31% think they can get COVID from the vaccine itself.<\/p>\n