Yesterday I received my first COVID vaccine shot. I was amazed at how quickly it all came to pass after months and months of waiting. In Florida last week there was talk of possibly expanding eligibility to ages 55+, just days after it was lowered to 60. But on Friday, the state announced eligibility is now 50+ starting on Monday.
To seize the opportunity, I quickly registered on county vaccination sites and set up online accounts at pharmacies and grocery stores. Florida has a patchwork of vaccination paths, which makes it confusing and inefficient. The county-administered sites run on a first-come-first-served basis, while the retail outlets require appointments scheduled directly on their sites. With no centralization, there’s huge potential for overlap, especially for motivated vaccine seekers like me.
So at dawn Monday I had two computers and my phone ready to get in the Publix and CVS appointment queues which opened at 7 AM. I waited as patiently as I could as I watched the availability decrease steadily: 92%… 76%… 48% then to 30% quite rapidly. Suddenly, about 45 minutes after the hour my screen moved from “On Hold” to “Register Now” and I speedily seized the first available slot for Wednesday afternoon at a local Publix supermarket.
Amazed, I printed my appointment confirmation and stared at it blankly, it seemed so unreal. My moment had finally arrived — after nine months of waiting for a miracle vaccine and three tense months of a slow (but accelerating) rollout with a threatening “third wave” of infections and dangerous virus variants on the rise.
No sooner than I ran to the bedroom to share the good news with a waking Paul, I received a text from Manatee county health department with another confirmation option at the drive-through vaccination site in Bradenton on Tuesday. With Paul’s urging, I also took this earlier opportunity.
Not wanting to double book, I tried to cancel the Wednesday appointment at Publix. I phoned the number listed only to be directed to the website with a blunt: There’s no need to cancel appointments at this time. Simply do not arrive for your scheduled appointment. With all the pent-up demand for vaccines, one would think I could more easily free up my extra spot.
Yesterday I woke with high spirits and drove with Paul to Bradenton around noon. At the vaccination site we joined a very long line of cars waiting. Yuck. As we snaked slowly through the park road I noticed a large number of people my age — very few “seniors” in the queue three months into the vaccine rollout.
An hour and a half later we arrived at check-in. Now elated, I was super friendly to all at the many pre-shot stations before I finally faced the needle. And with a quick prick it was all over! Very orderly and convenient despite the wait, and I never even had to leave my car (very American indeed).
Elated, I shouted woohoo! and gave a fist pump, eliciting a few smiles and waves from the vaccination staff. We waited about 10 minutes in a holding parking lot as a precaution to severe allergic reaction. And with that done, I was free to go. Ahhhh! It felt fantastic to finally have the vaccine in my body!
I was glad to receive the Moderna COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA for short) vaccine, a new breed of inoculations that promise to revolutionize immunology in coming years. While conventional vaccines use virus antigens to induce the building of antibodies, mRNA simply provides the instructions to the body’s cells to build the antigens themselves. This approach dramatically speeds up vaccine development (conventional processes normally take years), is less hazardous since large quantities of the live virus aren’t needed for manufacture, and it scales well for new pharmaceutical applications as it requires minimal change to the production process.
mRNA is exciting also because the biotechnology company Illumina, my employer, provided essential genetic sequencing instruments used to develop this vaccine. The timeline is astoundingly impressive: Moderna, a small startup from Cambridge, MA designed the mRNA vaccine over a single weekend, immediately after Chinese researchers released the virus’ DNA data on January 11, 2020. 42 days later, they shipped the first batches of the vaccine to the NIH. Human clinical trials started in March and after three phases completed in November, the results indicated 94.1% efficacy. In December, Moderna’s vaccine received FDA Emergency Use Authorization in December and public doses started quickly going into arms. An amazingly fast eleven months from start to finish — accelerated by massive U.S. government funding and innovative medical science.
We’re now three months into the vaccine rollout. Production has ramped steadily with 20 million doses in March, which will double to 40 million in April. Combined with the Pfizer and Johnson& Johnson vaccines, over 2.5M doses are given daily in the United States — and potentially nearing 4M/day later in the spring. Herd immunity is now projected to be reached in July, with 90% of the population in this country fully vaccinated. Simply astounding considering where we were just a few months ago.
Last November, Moderna’s CEO Stéphane Bancel spoke at one of our company’s virtual employee meetings. He shared personal stories of the lightening-fast design and development of the vaccine. He highlighted both the promise of mRNA to medical science and the important role of Illumina’s technology in accelerating genetic research and development. It is all very inspiring. My company is now spearheading efforts to track the emerging COVID-19 variants so we are better prepared for future threats.
Last night I walked around the mobile home park, enjoying the sights and sounds from the nearby Sarasota County Fair. The air filled with music and gaiety and thundering carnival rides. I’m eager to return to group society, to enjoy the company of friends and even crowds.
I especially enjoy watching the Fourth of July fireworks boom overhead with a teeming public surrounding me, shoulder to shoulder. It’s magnificent to commune with the masses, a body continuous and full of life, as in Whitman’s poem: Out of the rolling ocean the crowd came a drop gently to me…
So today I feel some liberation. I see the real possibility of returning to some pre-pandemic normalcy in coming months. But for now I now must endure the final waiting: four weeks to my second dose and then two more to full protection. With each passing week, as antibodies build in me and in millions of bodies around the world, the promise of this pandemic’s end becomes ever more certain.
