Gen- Get shot

Get shot … twice

I do not know about you but six weeks ago when I got my second dose of the vaccine, I thought the whole population would also do the same then and finally… the world would turn into a fragrant cool haven and all will be right after all.

What followed was confusion, noise, debates, controversies and what-not. No, it was not because of my getting the vaccine. It was the vaccine itself.

While 2020 was about this novel disease, treatment, inadequate medical facilities, migrant workers and employment, this year has been about the virus mutations, Oxygen, after-effects and of course, the vaccine. 

Yes, I do believe in vaccinations. Why, I  had given even my dog  all the vaccinations when I kept one. But don’t worry, I am not going to discuss about taking the vaccine or not, which one is more effective, the pricing policy, side-effects or any other meaningful issue related to the subject. I leave that to those who are qualified to do that either because of their knowledge and work experience or purely due to the gyan garnered through messages marked ‘Forwarded many times” on Whatsapp.

What I looked around for was the weekly dose of smiles which to me comes from the extraordinary and of course, the mundane.

It all started with which is the better vaccine although what seemed to me was that either Covaxin or Covishield was available at the vaccination centre you went to and the option was limited to a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Being the scared kind, I only wanted the vaccine, so I went through the procedure without knowing till some wise soul enlightened me about the brand and company name much, much later.

Sadly, this is a mere representation borrowed to keep your eyes bright this weekend even though most among female of our species might have preferred the vaccine coming in three of the above shapes and forms.

First there is a shortage of vaccines and the media has not missed it. The issue is that due to our population the site is very busy and for most of the people it is difficult and time-consuming to find a slot for vaccination.

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Then thanks to our unmatched procreation instincts, the vaccination drive which was divided into phases based on age, saw unmatched volumes of crowds at the centres.

The only way available was to go for the following option in the meantime to drown your disappointment. I marvel at the ingenuity of marketing people if such a bottle has ever been distilled.

Some who successfully managed to get the few droplets of the unknown magical substance into their plump or sagging biceps had other issues. Did they take the right one? An old schoolmate of mine was miffed at my posting this news item which mentioned how three women who had gone to the wrong floor asking for teeka (injection) got an anti-rabies shot each in a health centre in Shamli in Uttar Pradesh. An extreme case but humans are expected to make errors, isn’t it?

Right from Modiji and Amitabh Bachchan to Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Salman Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Sonu Sood and other stars of the screen who got the ‘jab’, were showcased by newspapers and websites baring their forearms to the needles or else their tweets about taking it. The rest among the 130 million of us merely took selfies or asked the staff to take pictures to bombard people on our own contact lists.

Meanwhile, the janata (common people) had practical issues to deal with.

Yet if you hear of people getting infected even after getting the vaccine, notice that such incidents have been few and less virulent, especially in case of those who got both the doses.

https://www.forbesindia.com/blog/coronavirus/vaccinations-increasing-covid-19-cases-and-the-peltzman-effect/

People assume, wrongly, that vaccination (especially after the first dose) makes you invincible and you can get back to partying and a pre-Covid-19 normal life. Not true. The immunity builds up only a few weeks after the second dose. Also, immunity is not absolute. You can still get infected after being vaccinated, just like you could die in a car accident even though you are wearing a seatbelt. 

So let us just continue with the hand sanitisers, masks, of course physical distancing (Please keep connected on a social basis) and now the vaccine!