COVID-19 vaccine: Writer takes shot, encourages others

Photo By Jean Graves | Jean Clavette Graves, public affairs officer, Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital participated in a COVID-19 public service campaign at the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk on Feb. 26.  

FORT POLK, LA, UNITED STATES

02.26.2021

Story by Jean Graves 

Medical Readiness Command, West

FORT POLK, La. — The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing nightmare. Social events and activities we have enjoyed in the past as part of maintaining our mental well-being have been canceled, schools have closed leaving kids and parents to deal with virtual learning and too many Families have suffered the unimaginable loss of loved ones due to the virus. The pain and suffering of the last year can’t be measured. So frankly, I am surprised to hear there are those who are refusing the vaccine — our lifeline to getting back to a new
normal.

I am one of the lucky ones. For me, the pandemic has been inconvenient,
frustrating and a learning experience in resiliency. I haven’t gotten sick. I was able to continue my job uninterrupted through telework and I personally learned to enjoy the solitude of my home more than I would have ever imagined as a practicing extrovert. I have read more books, honed my cooking skills and learned to embrace the simple things life has to offer.

The biggest inconvenience for me was that I couldn’t visit my family last
summer. My sister-in-law is a physician assistant in Alabama and my
cousin, by marriage, is a doctor in Florida. Their positions as health-care providers required them to take extreme precautions to stay healthy as they serve their communities. This made our annual visit impossible. Now that they have been vaccinated, they continue to do their part to stay healthy and protect their patients. My hope is we can spend a week fishing, swimming and catching up this summer.

However, one of my worries is that there will be an insufficient number of people getting the vaccine to reach public immunity, putting my trip in
jeopardy.

Thanks to my new position at Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital, I have been able to do my part to get one step closer to making that visit happen. Within weeks of beginning my public affairs job at BJACH, the COVID-19 vaccine was made available to volunteers according to a specific
schema. The initial wave of vaccine was limited to health-care providers and first responders. I became eligible in the next tier of volunteers because my job potentially puts me in contact with COVID-19 positive people at the hospital.

At first, I was skeptical that I should get the vaccine because I felt there were people more deserving, but not getting the vaccine never occurred to me because I want life to get back to normal.

People seem to be cautious about getting the vaccine. I have heard some of the reasons, most of which are more myth than fact. Some of the arguments include that it was developed too quickly or that we are taught in the military to never volunteer and others have adopted the “wait and
see” scenario in case there are unusual side effects. I haven’t actually heard a sound reason not to get the vaccine yet.

My husband, a police officer, and I have received both doses of the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and we joke with each other that we have not started craving human brains, grown horns or unfortunately,
developed any supernatural abilities. Unusual side effects have been surprisingly low, according to the subject matter experts at BJACH.

Our first shot resulted in slight headaches and some soreness around the injection site. We both had a few mild side effects after the second shot, but both of us were back to normal within 24 hours of the second dose.

I’m a creative type of person. I barely passed high school chemistry and couldn’t tell you much about the science of vaccines before I started talking about it with the medical professionals at BJACH. Now I’ve
written several stories on the subject. Still not an expert, I have learned enough about the vaccine to know most of the reasons not to get the vaccine can easily be debunked.

None of the COVID-19 vaccines distributed to date contain the live virus that causes COVID-19. Basically, the vaccine teaches our immune system
to defend itself against the virus.

Our immune response is, “I remember this stuff, and I’m going to attack it.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a complete description of how that works. Look it up: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.html.

The notion that the vaccine was developed too quickly is also incorrect. The mRNA vaccine technology is new but vaccines of this nature have
been studied and developed for decades.

The CDC says the vaccines can be developed in a laboratory using readily available materials — so the process can be standardized and scaled up — making vaccine development faster than traditional methods.

Don’t volunteer is another weak argument. When I joined the Army, I was told never volunteer for anything. That never made any sense to me because I volunteered to join the Army, and isn’t everyone who serves our nation a volunteer? In my experience, volunteering has had unexpected and often great outcomes. I remember in basic, I always volunteered to buff the floors on Sunday mornings instead of going to church. In return, our detail got to blast music from our drill sergeant’s radio and have the barracks to ourselves for a few hours each week. We danced, laughed and had great fun while we worked, a rare opportunity during training. I anticipate volunteering for this vaccine will have a positive outcome for me in a few months when I get to go spend time with my family, whom I miss so much. I really look forward to it.

I believe volunteering for this vaccine will help bring back a little fun in my life — and yours. I want to go to festivals and concerts and participate in large gatherings again. I’ve been training for the Austin Marathon where my friend and I will run the 13.1 mile half-marathon. The race has already been postponed once and if we can’t get COVID-19 under control it will probably be totally canceled. I’m sick of virtual races and am ready to get back out there with other runners to accomplish our goals and revel in the camaraderie of post-race festivities.

I’ve talked to people who have voluntarily received the vaccine and their primary motivations were to protect not only themselves, but also their families and, in the case of health-care providers — their patients. The idea is that the vaccination will develop community immunity and enable us to get back to normal as a society. For Soldiers, community immunity will also increase readiness, which is important to our national defense.
In the end, I’m ready for the routine of the ordinary lives we once took for granted. I don’t know anyone who wants to continue living under these restrictions and limitations and, in addition to all those other reasons, I willingly volunteered to get the COVID-19 vaccine to do my civic duty for our country.

This is a team effort. We should all do our part to protect ourselves, our friends and our neighbors from this virus that has wreaked havoc on our economy, nation and lives.

I encourage you to volunteer to receive the vaccine because I think that it is simply the right thing to do!

• Date Taken: 02.26.2021
• Date Posted: 03.01.2021 11:31
• Story ID: 390202
• Location: FORT POLK, LA, US