Received my vaccine shots

I have now received both my Pfizer shots, three weeks apart, thanks to my employer who was very organized about the whole process. They can do hundreds of us each day and most employees are now vaccinated. As a recipient, it was just a matter of receiving my appointment, driving onto campus and joining the processing line, then going through its stages, largely from my numbered, distanced seat.

I received each dose on a Friday morning and felt the effects mostly later on that same day and through the next. Both made my arm ache. The first made me sleepy, the second gave me lethargy and a headache, perhaps a slight fever, nothing bad. Yesterday afternoon, it worked well to simply relax, take analgesics, and catch up on some Debris (2021). It is good to know that soon I am probably protected from any severe effects of COVID-19. I suspect that I am also unlikely to be able to pass SARS-CoV-2 on to others, though the jury may still be out on that.

We know that the vaccines are not wholly effective in everybody but I take heart from how resistance to being vaccinated appears to be falling. I look forward to when local case numbers finally drop to a more reassuring level, then I can relax somewhat. I don't enjoy living in a world that feels like a small step toward 12 Monkeys (1995).

Throwing the die

Now I realize that one of my largest gambles has paid off: moving alone from Europe to a red state, where I know nobody, during a somewhat-denied pandemic. Not only did the travel feel risky but also the various new-life-setup tasks that follow, such as the driving test. I got through the move and all the way to vaccination without contracting COVID-19.

While I am cautious and double-check a lot, I also take large, though calculated, risks. Indeed, I would have taken a far less secure job too were others not depending on me. I may be conservative but I also know that, from where I am, that course will not deliver satisfactory outcomes. So, just as with the remains of my investment portfolio, I take risks in other spheres, hoping they pay off, and willing to bear the cost if they fail. Which they sometimes do, e.g., all the work needing done on this house that went unreported in the inspection.

Anyhow, my make a new life elsewhere while under the shroud of plague gamble was at the borderline of my tolerance, especially given that it is only more recently we learned that the vaccines appear effective for long-haul COVID-19. Between, say, that or the house working out, I would certainly have picked my health, and I am pleased that things seem to have gone that way.