My Vaccine Story
Last week felt like a turning point in the fight against Covid-19 for me personally. Not only was I able to secure my own first shot of a vaccine, I found that the vast majority of my medical device colleagues based here in the US had either gotten their first shot or had scheduled their shots. The colleagues I interact with on a regular basis are typically veterans of the industry from technical, regulatory or business roles. Many are like me and have served in all of these roles. I find it remarkable that this group which have direct knowledge of what it takes to develop devices or treatments, conduct clinical studies and then attain FDA authorization is 100% in agreement that they will be getting a shot as soon as it is their turn. We all unanimously see the benefit of getting the shot and have been encouraging our friends and family to do so.
As of March 14, the United States vaccination efforts have increased significantly to over 2.8 millions doses being administered per day over the last week. This has resulted in 1st doses for about 70 million people (20.9%) with over 37 million people fully vaccinated (11.2%) so far (Ref 1). While this is great progress, we still have a ways to go. As more vaccines become available, we will see an increased focus on education as there was included in the recent Covid-19 relief bill over a $1 billion to the US CDC for vaccine awareness and engagement. (Ref 2)
In order to support my EDUCATE – VACCINATE – ERADICATE Covid-19 mantra, I want to share my experience getting my first shot. I have said that my favorite vaccine will be the first vaccine I am offered. So count me in as a fan of Team Moderna. (Just to be clear, I could have easily become a member of Team J&J or Team Pfizer.) Thank you to the scientists from Moderna, Vanderbilt University and the NIH who developed the Moderna vaccine and to Dolly Parton who I understand provided a considerable amount of the research funding. Also, a big thank you to the tens of thousands of people who participated in phases 1, 2 and 3 of the study which led to the Moderna Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the FDA.
Our family learned over the weekend of March 6th that Minnesota Governor Walz would be announcing an expansion of the categories of people who could receive the Covid-19 vaccines. My wife (a physician who was vaccinated in December/January, Team Pfizer) was able to find a an early release of the announcement and quickly scanned it for our status. We were excited to find that not only do I qualify but our oldest children would also qualify due to their occupations.
My wife had found an online group that recommended finding vaccines at Thrifty White pharmacies. Amazingly, the Thrifty White pharmacy’s web site (https://www.thriftywhite.com/covid19vaccine) was also updated immediately with the new criteria for the state of Minnesota. We both scanned their site and found that vaccines were available on Wednesday March 10 in a number of communities. We determined that we could schedule appointments for all three of us around noon in Detroit Lakes, MN which is about a three-hour drive from our home. We signed up and committed ourselves to making the trip twice as we were also automatically signed up for the booster shot in four weeks. I give Thrifty White credit for having an easy to access website and for securing enough vaccines to support this expansion.
Early Wednesday morning, I donned my Adam Thielen #19 jersey and the three of us headed west. Our life saving shot would be administered in Detroit Lakes, MN the hometown of the Minnesota Vikings star wide receiver. It was a nice drive filled with excitement thinking about the meaning of what was to come.
Arriving at the time of our earliest appointment, we masked up and went inside to get checked in. The Thrifty White staff already had our information sheets pre-printed and were ready for us. We had our temperatures checked and signed our forms. The staff at the Thrifty White had two people checking vaccine recipients in and two medical professionals administering the vaccines. In addition, their insurance expert quickly resolved some minor issues.
My daughter and I were able to immediately go into the procedure room together while our son worked out his insurance issue. The vaccine administrator simply asked us which arm we preferred. We each took turns and it was done. We were handed our vaccine record cards. I thanked her and said, “See you in four weeks.” By the time we were done, our son was ready to get his shot. He was in and done just as quickly. From the time we entered the Thrifty White until we were all given our shots was less than ten minutes.
The next morning I felt great. I did not experience any fever, chills or body aches. A quick check with my son and daughter found they also did not experience any issues. We were fortunate as I know others have experienced various minor issues. We also realize that the second dose often has more issues and we will be ready for it.
To the staff at Thrifty White, thank you for doing what you do to vaccinate as many people as possible. Thank you everyone at Moderna and McKesson (Moderna's distribution partner). You are saving lives and should be proud.
Reflecting on the actual shot, I am blown away that a simple act of getting a shot can change our lives so profoundly. Less than a second in time (plus another second in four weeks) is literally life changing. Under my Thielen jersey I wore a t-shirt that said, "LET'S HAVE A MOMENT OF SCIENCE" which to me signifies what an amazing and profound event occurred that day for me. I wish for hundreds of millions of such profound "MOMENTS OF SCIENCE" leading to billions of them for all of us to eradicate Covid-19.
EDUCATE - VACCINATE - ERADICATE Covid-19
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