A Shot in the Dark

It hadn’t occurred to me that I was eligible for the covid 19 vaccine until a friend and colleague proudly crowed (via text) that she and her colleagues all had theirs. Wait, what? “Yes, non-covid facing health care workers were added to this phase. Go sign up!” She urged.

I finished my next Zoom call and brought up the mass.gov site and checked out the one nearest me. Hot damn! A time available in three weeks. By the time I entered my information with my hot little hands, that time was gone. I tried it again with the same result. The next times it showed no appointments for as far out as they were booking- through the end of March.

I decided to give another site a shot. This one asked for zip code and I was thrilled, but wary, to see an available appointment pop up ten miles from home in two weeks. Even my nimble fingers could not beat the clock and land that slot or the next one even though all the fields were populated. It was like grasping jello. Looks like you should be able to hold it, but it oozes through your fingers. I started typing in random zip codes I knew by heart just for fun and had just input my first one from moving to the Boston area and lo and behold a time two days later just twelve miles from my current location (and 40 miles from Boston) emerged. I hit submit and held my breath.

YES! Score!! I waited to see the confirmation email before really celebrating. I’m sure that while I was dinking around the site someone must have canceled that particular time and wham I scooped it up. It was like driving to the center of Boston during rush hour, circling the block a couple of times and then spotting someone pulling out just as you sidle up to it directly in front of the restaurant you’re going to (back when you did that). I felt like I was getting away with something but I’m not giving away MY shot. Not a chance.

Today I appeared in front of an innocuous looking doorway between the dry cleaner and the hair salon as instructed along with two other people, a 97 year old woman accompanied by her daughter and a man 10 years my senior (so still not actually breaking 75) and we all waited until the appointed five minutes before show time to ring the bell.

It was all very orderly and organized and I was back out in fifteen minutes with my precious appointment card for four weeks hence. Ye ha!! Moderna Love. Talk about a shot in the arm! I grinned as I grabbed a granola packet and some chocolate miniatures to accompany my Advil on my twenty minute ride back to the office. It should not require this much celebration to have navigated my way to a vaccine. I would have happily made a field trip to Gillette or Western Mass, but I’m thrilled to have snuck out on my lunch hour. I’m fervently wishing that many many more people do not have to struggle in order to have someone wish them Happy Vaccination Day.