Saturday, February 13, 2021

The View from the Hermitage, Day 335

The impeachment vote was held a wee bit ago. Needless to say, Xpot was acquitted. The most positive comment that comes to mind is that at least a seventh Republican saw the light and turned from the dark side. I'm sure that Xpot is no longer screaming at his television but is instead gloating and planning his comeback. I just hope that the comeback does not include revenge, suggesting to his "followers" that those who were not with him are against him and should be punished. I would not put that past him at all. I expect there will soon be a pro-Xpot rally, perhaps even on President's Day. As if catching covid-19 is not scary enough, we now have a lunatic with potentially violent followers to fear.

So let's see how scared I can be from the coronavirus notes I wrote while not thinking about the pending impeachment vote. Some health people are cautioning that unless the first-world, developed countries get with the program of ensuring that all nations get the vaccines in "a fast and fair manner," it could be years before the coronavirus is under control at a global level. "Vaccine nationalism" will only prolong the pandemic. Moderna, for example, has given no doses to COVAX, the global vaccine effort, nor have they made any deals to provide vaccine to low-income nations.

While we here in the US have vaccine, many logistical hurdles remain in terms of getting it into people's arms. Not getting our act together will most likely mean that many Americans who want to be vaccinated will still not be vaccinated by the end of the summer. And what percent of people refuse to be vaccinated is still not known with any degree of certainty, but it is likely large enough to make herd immunity difficult if not impossible to achieve. 

My mom got her second vaccine injection on Thursday. She felt more physical effects from the second shot than she did from the first. Another friend who just got her second shot said the same thing. I guess the second dose ups the number of antibodies to a point where more or stronger effects can be felt. Maybe in a few months I'll be able to comment first-hand. Every now and again when I read articles or hear about people complaining about how difficult it is to make vaccination appointments or how the system must be broken because they haven't heard anything after registering, I wonder if my sitting back and saying I'll get an appointment when someone says it's my turn makes me stranger than I may already be. The Professor has said that he doesn't want to get vaccinated until K-12 teachers or child-care workers or other more-essential workers have been vaccinated. While working from home is by no means ideal, it lets him limit his potential exposure and, by extension, mine. 

It's after 5:00 pm here which means I can investigate the alcohol options available without resorting to the "somewhere in the world it is after 5:00 pm" copout. I'm thinking that watching the news tonight would be a bad thing.


1 comment:

Caroline M said...

I still think that the best way of not contracting it is to not come into contact with someone who has it. It's easy for me to say this seeing as here everything is shut and the options for mingling and having a good time are limited by law. People are talking about ending lockdown soon and returning to normal as if they are the same thing but we're a long way from normal being a possibility. There's nothing I can do about it and all I can affect is me but I do wonder how many times we have to go through this cycle before we learn anything.