Due to the recent dustup over the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, when I began this post, the main thing on my mind was the extent to which healthcare access can be undermined by status games. Plus, for obvious reasons we're also being told the best strategy is simply accepting whatever vaccine comes our way. But is this really good advice? After all, many healthcare products and methods are subjectively experienced. In this instance, COVID-19 vaccines are also associated with knowledge and information which continues to evolve. Consequently, some "expert" pronouncements are based on professional opinions rather than obvious facts. Hence some advice I've taken with a grain of salt in my own decision making processes.
When it comes to subjective experiences, not only are our metabolisms unique, but out personal circumstance are quite different as well. For example, I don't recall having issues with vaccines or booster shots when I was young. But the last time I received a vaccine prior to some community college courses, I was already in my fifties. By then, I'd been managing fairly frequent migraines for some time. Perhaps not surprisingly, that last booster shot came with three or four days of strong migraine, afterward.
Also important, is that strong migraines occasionally include side effects reminiscent of the chills, fever and body aches associated with COVID-19. For these reasons - now to mention the fact I've never liked shots - I suspected my body would better tolerate the once and done dose of Johnson and Johnson.
Alas, policy makers and also healthcare providers have their own preferences what "should" be available for local populations - indeed, if at all in certain rural areas. Compounding the issue: J & J vaccine has been unfairly contrast with both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. As a recent NPR article noted:
Public health messaging around the J & J is especially tricky because the efficacy numbers can obscure nuances about how it was studied. The trials were conducted in different countries during different times of the pandemic than the other two vaccines. And, of increasing importance, the J & J vaccine was tested in places where new, more dangerous variants of the virus were already circulated.
Until now, I'd not been overly upset with the particulars of the vaccine rollout - that is, until I became unexpectedly angry about the waiting list problem. After several attempts and frustrating phone calls, once I finally located the waiting list requirements online, I discovered the only people who could sign up locally were healthcare providers or people 65 years of age with at least one chronic condition. Even if - at 66 - I considered my twenty plus years of migraines as chronic, there's a good chance that since I've not relied on physicians for management, that could disqualify me from vaccine access.
However, a news report from a few days earlier had given me hope that local pharmacies might be among the groups administering J & J vaccines in southeast Texas. Unfortunately that turned out not to be the case in my area. Instead, only the local hospital is tending to vaccines for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Yet I only realized local doses were available, because a family member (from out of town) had received a Facebook notification from the hospital. Facebook! My age is showing because I really wish I didn't need to join social media to keep up with what is happening where I live.
So I don't like how online waiting list processes feel. And when people explained to me that phone call appointments weren't allowed, something in their demeanor made me feel foolish for even asking. In fact, the common refrain from a couple of nearby pharmacists and a local doctor, was basically "why are you contacting me"? It comes across loud and clear from these individuals and their affiliated organizations, how they don't want to personally deal with people such as myself. With a little luck, I suppose, online registration prevents them from having to do so. At any rate, I was caught off guard in my poor reaction to this new reality of crossed finger waiting games and online registrations. It's nothing like the world of person to person interactions I once took for granted - a world of once gentler and kinder humanity which I still dream about. We've seemingly lost that world, at least for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment