Running Out The Clock

Running Out The Clock - Awaiting the golden elixir

By Charles E. Kraus

At first, we were elated.  My wife and I had managed to remain covid free.  Vaccines were being manufactured and distributed.  And now we'd reached Tier 1 of Phase 1B with its head-of-the-line privileges.  We were home safe.  Or, more to the point, we would receive our vaccinations and become away-from-home safe.  Our daughters, both members of California's helping professions, had already gotten their initial inoculations.  We'd reunite.  Then, before long, the rest of the family would join a parade of the immunized.  A family reunion was on the horizon, grandchildren leading the way!  

However, it has turned out there is no head-of-the-line.  Actually, there is no line.  Not here in Seattle.  Just more uncertainty.  Evidently, no vaccine is currently available.  No appointments are being scheduled.  Seniors have been asked to pause.   My wife and I (we are in our mid 70s) seem to be walking an endless tightrope.  Continuing our balancing act.  Attempting to stay safe until safety is no longer an issue.  Eleven months and counting of hiding from the enemy, waiting for the cavalry to rescue us, to make it to Seattle, saddlebags filled with the golden elixir. Their horses must be tired.

My feelings are multifaceted. A mixture of fear, anger at the Trump administration's poor handling of the pandemic response, upset with my own state and county.  Disappointment. Astonishment.  Quite a system you folks have put in place.  

I've developed an ambivalent sense of marvel and jealousy because some of our out of town friends have received their vaccinations without much difficulty .  Why is it, I wonder, that Hal and Carolyn visited their local Walgreens, be it in Reno, and walked out inoculated, while Linda and I sit here in sophisticated big city Seattle doing our best to navigate a 'figure it out yourself,' hit and miss hodge-podge of a delivery system whose main feature is gridlock?  

I've been making daily, occasionally hourly, internet searches hoping to happen upon a set of available appointments.   I've heard the rumors.  There are some spots, or maybe not.  We do this by rumor, yes?  Or we can stick to the internet instructions, lots of them.  Simply follow the prompts down each web-trail until you reach the 'sorry no appointments at this time” “awaiting vaccine, check back” “closed” “visit our calendar for future dates” (doing so leads to aspirational calendar pages upon which dates cannot (yet) be selected).

My wife and I have been spending a great deal of time discussing strategy.  Is it feasible, is it realistic, to drive a few hundred miles inland?   Seems as if vaccines are readily available in less populated areas.  Assuming that is so, I wonder why.  And what is more dangerous, me behind the wheel of our ten-year-old Kia in wet winter weather, or waiting it out in Seattle?  

I received my polio vaccine when I was eight.  Each class was escorted to the playground where kids took part in the extremely successful mass inoculation.  At the moment, the concept, 'successful mass inoculation,' seems archaic.  

Will the cure be relevant by the time someone somewhere is ready to stick my wife and me with the needles?   Basically, the two of us are running out the clock.