Good morning everyone. As we wait for our vaccines or think about getting one, please remember that this is not a one dose and done deal. The vaccine is intended to be delivered in two doses on a strict schedule. The first injection teaches the immune system to recognize a new pathogen by showing it a harmless version of some of the virus’s most salient features. After the body has had time to study up on this material, as it were, a second shot presents these features again, helping immune cells commit the lesson to memory.

These vaccines are teachers, intending to give our bodies directions on how to recognize and kill COVID-19. But for it to be effective we need at least 70% of people in the US, and hopefully the world to get both shots. Then it takes about a month after the last one for it to be about 70+% effective.

I have no idea why the rollout is so slow. But I do know that it gives time to decide whether we will get it and if not why. My decision was easy. I'd much rather have a reaction to the vaccine than to have COVID-19 and all of the possible, horrific side effects that it can cause. A few days in bed, if it comes to that sure beats a lifetime of side effects from covid or death.

Your decision will also affect those around you. Please weigh all of the known facts, check with your doctors, and have a talk with the people closest to you. Then decide.