Today was Christmas and Easter rolled into one ! Today I felt like dancing, like no one was watching ! Today, while others were disappointed about cancelled Easter plans and yet another lockdown, and while  thousands of nurses and doctors were preparing to work more long days over a long weekend,  I had a spring in my step and a song in my heart ! Today is the day I was given my first dose of the Covid 19 vaccine.  

There was a feeling of excitement in the well-organized vaccination clinic at St. Joseph’s West 5th campus! There were smiling eyes, friendly voices, caring glances, comforting words, and helpful hands from volunteers, guiding us through a maze towards competent doctors and nurses who were waiting to give the gift of hope to elders like myself . We don’t feel like elders ….but we are! We are the post-war baby boomers from ages 70 to 74! We have had many vaccines before ….but this feels different.

I have not only received many vaccines over the years but I have also administered many vaccines over the years, as a Public Health Nurse at mass vaccination clinics for measles and Hepatitis B in the 90s and H1N1 in 2009 . I know how hard these devoted nurses and doctors are working. I know what it is to work long hours at these clinics when there is a call for all hands on deck. Today felt different though. I was on the receiving end this time, during an unprecedented pandemic. 

Never before have we lived through a time when we could not hug our children or grandchildren or dine out with our best friends or visit the elderly in care homes . We all know what this past year has been like, and having these vaccines today, because of the tireless effort of brilliant scientists from around the world, is nothing short of a miracle. I am filled with gratitude for the remarkable knowledge of the epidemiologists, virologists, researchers,  public health experts, doctors and nurses , and yes…even thankful for our politicians, and the media who have all worked together to bring us to this point in time. So today I have not only been given a dose of a vaccine, but also a dose of hope! 

Thinking back over my seventy years , I have lived through a time when I have never had a fear of getting smallpox, nor did I ever lose sleep at night wondering if my children might contract polio. We have taken much for granted all these years. So today, I am hopeful that one day , we will no longer be in a world with Covid 19. I am happy to be vaccinated not just to protect myself, but to protect others ….those who cannot be vaccinated. 

Today brings to my mind a vague childhood memory. It was 1955 and I was in a long line-up  with my mom and other mothers and children ready to be vaccinated with the first Polio vaccine… the Salk vaccine. It was another modern miracle and it had a similar ingredient to the Covid 19 vaccine I had today….that ingredient  is called ‘hope’.     I think I know now exactly how my parents felt in 1955….their hope was that their girls would grow up free of polio….and we did. 

Happy Easter everyone!