Well we have another Tuesday and Tuesday's are now a day of two halves for me; mornings in work and afternoons off.
So into work this morning and it was pretty much the usual sort of stuff; admin bits and pieces, banking bits, submitting data to our county council and sorting more fundraising details.
Then this afternoon I drove home and picked up Simon so that we could both head off to get our COVID vaccine at a local health centre. We had debated quite a lot about whether we should get the jab or not. We have both kept pretty well informed of all things COVID and all things vaccine related. We have taken in all view points and are open to all arguments around the efficacy of both our current restrictions and the various vaccines.
Going back to this time last year the information we were presented with was very scary and the main stream media have continued with this mantra ever since. Ofcom rulings and parliamentary emergency acts have restricted a lot of media outlets from deviating away from the government messaging and emergency powers that were supposed to be temporary are still in place.
But back in March and April last year we followed dutifully the government guidance and the science that was being presented to us. And even as the Spring turned into Summer we tried to keep informed and act as we were being told to. But as the year moved on we became more and more curious about what was happening and began to notice dissenting voices.
Both Simon and I would consider ourselves a little bit sceptical, while at the same time wanting to 'do our bit' throughout all of this. But the longer this has gone on the more and more we find ourselves questioning decisions that have been made and whether the approach taken has in fact been correct and whether what we have done, and been subjected to, has actually caused more harm than good.
So when it came around to vaccines I will admit to being concerned at the relatively quick time in which the vaccines were 'discovered'. I have always been very pro-vaccine and my kids have had all the ones that were offered, Molly has taken part in a study for a meningitis vaccine and I took the flu vaccine when it was offered to me for the first time last year. But the speed to which this set of vaccines were approved has caused me some concerns. Most vaccines would be in stage three trials for a number of years before getting approval but these have all been given emergency approval which means that all of us who take it are basically taking part in a giant human trial whether we want to or not.
When we realised that our local health centre was administering the Oxford AstraZeneca version we felt much more comfortable in going for it. This version uses existing methods of creating vaccines and as far as I understand it the lab at Oxford had been working on a vaccine to combat this type of Coronavirus for a while and were simply 'waiting for one to come along' so to speak. Whereas the Pfizer and Moderna versions are using new technology to create theirs and both Simon and I were more cautious and concerned surrounding the possible long term affects that those versions may present.
So we took the view that as we are both in our 50's and not getting any younger, and it was the version we felt happier about, that we would 'do the right thing' and get stuck with a needle. We are both healthy individuals, neither of us have any known illnesses that would put us at risk of a serious outcome should we contract COVID but we felt that we ought to play safe.
We had a little wait at the clinic as we had arrived ahead of our appointment time and the clinicians administering the vaccine were on their lunch break! But once up and running it was a very efficient service and we were both happily surprised that they let us go through the process together. Within six minutes of our allotted appointment time we were back in the car and heading home. We have both mentioned having a sore arm and Simon has said that he 'feels like he's coming down with something' but other than that we are both doing okay at the moment.
And the rest of my afternoon was spent doing a little online shopping for pre-school, watching a Department of Education video about lateral flow tests within the early years sector and making a keto crustless bacon and mushroom quiche ready for tomorrow's lunch.
So all in all a productive day one way or another.
Wherever you are, whatever you may be doing, take care.
xx
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