So I’m queuing up for my latest booster shot
And it’s rather busy
A pharmacist once told me—
It’s always busy at the pharmacy
It’s also, as I was about to find out
A great place to make new friends
And maybe lose your faith in humanity
Anyhow I end up in the wrong line
But some nice gentleman lets me have my place back
And I’m just trying to be nice, too
Right?
So I smile and words come out of my mouth:
Thanks man, here for your booster?

I’ve had it twice

The vaccine?

No, COVID

Oh no, that’s terrible!

The first time wasn’t too bad
But then I went to take care of my brother
Who got it real bad
You know intubated and in a coma for weeks
Weren’t sure he was gonna make it
But he did
And I figured I’d have immunity
You know from the first time?
But I got it again
Not as bad as my brother
But it turned into a upper respiratory thing
I couldn’t work for months

At this point I don’t really know what to say
But I opened my mouth anyway
And thankfully I was interrupted by a woman in line in front of me
In scrubs
She looked at my new friend
Her eyes glazing over with tears
I was on the front lines in New York
March, 2020
I’ve watched hundreds of people die
And you’re lucky you weren’t one of them
You need to get vaccinated
For yourself
And for heath care workers like me
And for everyone

But the vaccines are so new
They were developed so quickly
They have bad stuff in them
And I don’t trust the government!

Fortunately it’s now the nurse’s turn in line
Remember the pharmacy is busy
So this is her moment
Anyhow it doesn’t get any more heated
And my new friend
Who I’m not really liking much any more
Doesn’t have anyone left to argue with
So he pipes down for a minute and gives me time to think
And so I'll walk you through my thoughts here:
First, this guy refuses to get the vax
Gets sick
Watches his brother nearly die
Which gets him sick again
Because we don’t know how much immunity is conferred, if any at all
And the virus keeps changing
Every new case is a new variant
So his strategy
You know
Of avoiding the “bad things” in the vax
Ends up getting him sick twice and almost losing a family member

This conversation was over
Thankfully
Because the nurse had said what I wanted to say for me
And finally it’s my turn
The pharmacist is a young woman
No more than maybe 25
As she’s ringing me up
I ask her what she says to people who think the world is flat
It was busy at the pharmacy
It’s always busy at the pharmacy, remember?
But she took her time to tell me the whole story:

My father is an antivaxxer
But my mother is not
Somehow my parents stayed married
So don’t worry about getting flu and COVID vaccines at the same time
I got ten shots on my 18th birthday
My little sister is stuck in there still