Last Thursday, June 17, 2021, I received my second Covid-19 Moderna vaccine shot.
My first shot, I experienced sheer, exuberant joy.
This second shot, I experienced a solemn, quiet, endless gratitude to:
- every epidemiologist/virologist who formulated these life-saving vaccines,
- every healthcare worker who facilitates these shots,
- every pilot and trucker and warehouse person who distributes these shots.
To each and every person out there who I will never meet, and therefore never be able to offer you my thanks, in person, please know I sincerely owe you my life.
My last day of social freedom was February 27, 2020.
The day my second vaccine fully kicks in will be July 1, 2021.
That makes 490 days of self-imposed home confinement, waiting for a miracle in a form of a vaccine that could save me from a wretched, lonely death by this horrible disease.
I had to wait for my emotions to settle before writing about my second shot, for words would not come in such a swirl of tearful gratitude.
Those of us who live under chronic health conditions that could have made getting Covid-19 a death sentence had to be extremely vigilant. To stay at home for the vast majority of those 490 days took extreme discipline, and a fight with one's mind to keep upbeat and hopeful. In the darkest days, when the sickness and death toll mounted the world over, and when vaccines were not even on the horizon, my focus had to remain sharp. And while the scientists worked on formulating life-saving vaccines, I worked on staying my own course, keeping busy every day with my own To-Do list, and never, ever giving into hopelessness, keeping the faith that humanity would once again be free.
I think it providence that the date I achieve full immunity will be July 1st — Canada Day. For the rest of my life, that day will not only be a national-wide holiday, but a very personal celebration. July 1st will become Freedom Day to me, my new favorite holiday, for nothing will surpass the joy I feel at being given a second chance at life.
For the next 10 days, I will again be patient. And even after full immunity is achieved, my vigilance when go on until all the world achieves its vaccinated freedom.
For the rest of my life, I will never receive as precious a gift as what lay in that tiny glass vial. So, to all of you who had a role in getting those two shots into my arm, I deeply, sincerely, and forever, thank you.