The COVID-19 vaccine scared me.
The increase in blood pressure made my ears ring and my breathing was blocked. But this is not a side effect. We know that vaccines are safe and effective.
Very helpless, and some dizziness.
I have a high risk like almost anyone, but at least (as far as I know) I don’t have such a high risk. In any case, it’s not like that in Alabama, where about a million people got it before me.
It is almost certain that a box of COVID-19 will kill me. I am a 50-year-old middle-aged person, but was diagnosed with hereditary emphysema in my 30s. The lack of a chemical component called Alpha-1
I have had trouble breathing in just a few years since I lived an active life-commuting to get off work by bike, hiking and running with dogs. This is why I gave up working in the restaurant kitchen with smoke and heat and turned to writing as a living.
This is why oxygen flows through my nose when I sleep and exercise-why even a cold head or hay fever can cause bronchitis and then pneumonia. In the past 16 years, there have been more than six hospitalizations.
The first time I was hospitalized, I spent $8,000 and stayed for four days, all because of lack of medicine. Since then, I have been eligible for disability and medical insurance; otherwise, I would have no insurance at all and no chance to obtain nearly $250,000 of medicines for my survival every year.
When the “strange new pneumonia” appeared more than a year ago, it obviously caught my attention. As of March 2020, COVID-19 is leaking out across the United States, and my doctor told me to isolate at home and take all safety measures.
The breakthrough of the vaccine is very rapid. The phased introduction of the vaccine in Alabama began in December, first for frontline workers and family residents. Understandable and fair.
Last month, some institutions entered Phase 1b-75-year-old first responders, important workers dealing with the public. Interested people are directed to the website or phone number to register.
Around this time there was a social media march, with younger, healthier faces announcing the vaccination. My wife will see it every other day.
“How did they get it? Why don’t you understand?” she shouted.
We found that some lawyers were eligible-at least we heard that they were shot. The Alabama Bar Association has 18,000 members, of which two-thirds are men and approximately 90% are white. Librarians, public relations staff, city hall staff and others were also vaccinated.
For me, some websites do not have a specific list of media personnel (my profession), nor do they have existing qualifications. Anyway, I signed up, but I never heard back.
The rumored facility is open intermittently on a first-come, first-served basis without any restrictions. I never received a notification.
Conditions tightened. The website of a clinic has been closed. The other announced a severe shortage. The phone number of the other person only sent the message “The vaccine is not there.”
This shoddy scenario dominated the state.As Wall Street Journal It was recently reported that we are the last country to be vaccinated, with only 10,013 people per 100,000 inhabitants. According to Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins University), in recent weeks, we have been one of the countries with the highest positive coronavirus test rate, at 29%.
The reason is obvious: Alabama is mainly poor, rural and unhealthy. When the state refused to expand the Medicaid plan for Obamacare, it emphasized an overburdened public health system, and access to rural medical services was declining. In February 2020, one in four hospitals in Alabama may close down.
The potential paranoia resulting from historical racism and terrible experiments on the black population makes some people here understandable (though unfortunately) suspicion of vaccination. Blacks make up 27% of Alabama’s population. The poorest rural counties in the state are predominantly black, but according to recent estimates, only 11% of vaccinated people are black.
The broader politicization of COVID-19 and paranoid beliefs also play a role. This is why as of the beginning of this month, only a quarter of police officers in Mobile, Alabama have been vaccinated. Coupled with the chaotic communication I encountered, the result became inevitable.
Last Tuesday, some of these police officers participated in a large-scale carnival street party in Mobile, a potential super-spreading event hosted by the Mayor of Mobile, Sandy Stimpson. The state legislature passed a bill to protect businesses and governments from COVID-19 lawsuits. The cold temperatures and warnings from public health officials have dispelled the expected attendance of thousands. It can prove to be a savior.
The state health official, Dr. Scott Harris, admitted that the shortage of vaccines, coupled with the above factors, is a headache. He said that the Biden administration has intensified the rant, but it is not enough.
“In the beginning we were not a healthy country. Harris recently told reporters: “We have a lot of diabetes, heart disease and other factors that make people vulnerable to bad health problems. “Adding this chronic disease category may add 2 million people. In the absence of a vaccine, tell immediately that everyone is entitled to not help. “
Despite Harris’ statement, mixed signals still appeared on the street. A restaurant staff told me that he arrived at the largest clinic in Mobile on February 13 and fired without being asked to provide an ID “or anything”. He said that his diabetic wife also had a needle.
Wal-Mart announced its vaccine distribution earlier this month. On its website, I call myself an important member of the media, not a high-risk person. The irony is that if I wear portable oxygen, my wife may be burdened like “living with high-risk groups,” although “high-risk” patients still seem to belong to the later vaccine group.
I don’t know the source of all these gaps between the agreement, the official timetable and what is happening. We are very worried about this problem. We try to play strictly according to the rules, but we are tired of our lives.
Three days before our scheduled vaccination appointment, I woke up dizzy for the first time. The inner ear disease made me withdraw and retreat, enough to prevent vaccination, because now it is impossible to distinguish dizziness from possible side effects of vaccination.
Assuming that I could have been vaccinated, visits with medical experts will take precedence over vaccinations. The week before this will be full of questions about the local spread of COVID-19. Is carnival enough to fill expert offices with deadly viruses? Will I roll into the waiting room for relief just to find my own bad luck?
The only certainty is that if I get relief from a vertigo specialist that day, we will go directly to the largest vaccine clinic in Mobile, where stories about overlooked priorities, appointments and agreements continue to appear.
Our patience and choices are exhausted, and I need that blow.
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