Another booster on good advice

Walk-in somewhere far away

I had been receiving a notification for over a month that I should consider getting the Spring COVID-19 booster as I am understood to have a weakened immune system.

For the previous boosters, I have just had to walk up to the offices beside the Central Library, hardly 5 minutes away to get my jab. However, on receiving the notice, I found there were no walk-in vaccine centres in the city centre, the nearest was just over one and half miles away.

Besides the option to walk-in, these centres only had specific days of the week that they offered the jab, most of them somewhat inconvenient besides the fact that you probably want to get it over with than wait until the weekend. The whole concept of walking-in which one would think allows for an unscheduled and impromptu visit was somewhat defeated because the freedom to attend was curtailed by the restricted scheduling to see patients.

Get out there and get it

I was prompted to do something when at the weekend, I received a letter, and this was quite apart from the many SMS text messages that had been ringing on my mobile phone. The last day for receiving the Spring booster was the 30^th of June after which one will have to wait until the autumn season.

It could have been ignored, but every once in a while, I hear of someone contracting COVID with a varied spectrum of severity of symptoms. If the number of people who tested positive in the week including the 3^rd of June is 4,331 and deaths for the week including the 22^nd of May is 231, according to the government website. COVID remains a threat, even if it is not in the news and well-considered precautions remain sensible and necessary. In my region, for the recorded period, there have been an increase in deaths by 5 to 33 and hospital admissions down 29 to 277.

I take advice seriously

I use medical consultancy services and follow the advice I am given by my doctors after my concerns have been addressed and my questions answered. They know we all have access to reams of Internet information from which genuine or absurd inquiry might arise and I take into full consideration much of the information necessary to achieve the best patient outcomes for myself.

I have stuck with the mRNA vaccines which are the Pfizer and Moderna products and so far, I have had 2 main Pfizer jabs, then a Pfizer booster, a Moderna booster, and the last 2 were the Pfizer booster with modifications for COVID variants, it is now 6 injections since February 2021. Some might advice you do not need the booster, but they are not experts in the field, just people informed by sentiment or misinformation.

It was about a 40-munite walk to the chemist this morning, I stated my intent, and I was seen to after 10 minutes, the jab was from such a tiny hypodermic needle, you hardly felt it. As long as I was feeling fine, I did not have to wait the regulatory 15 minutes for observation.

Keep with the experts

What I find bizarre is the number of conspiracy theorists who are against vaccination regimes not out of producing data that meets the test of scientific and informed rigour, much as their arguments seem persuasive, I would rather listen to scientists, vaccinologists, or epidemiologists speak than people with political or social media platforms without the essential tutelage of expertise and knowledge.

It is just absurd to pitch an influencer against an expert in a field for purpose of debate on an area of specialisation that is certified beyond enthusiastic dilettantism. Yet, this is what we see nowadays, and I present the tweet I posted earlier today for your reflection.

The absurdity of having an expert debate a conspiracy theorist is so totally exemplified in this cartoon where a random passenger in flight says, "These smug pilots have lost touch with regular passengers like us. Who thinks I should fly the plane?"
Like seriously? Hands raised? pic.twitter.com/bDqtEwRNyN

— Akin Akíntáyọ̀ 🏳️‍🌈 #European (@forakin) June 19, 2023