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Searching for Vaccine Patience
March 9, 2021
Today is my 65th birthday. Because I have been lucky enough, and just careful enough, I am a healthy older lady.
Until today, I have not been lucky enough to qualify for one of the precious vaccines that everyone on earth is now clamoring for. Today, as a 65 year old in Massachusetts, I can officially get my jab and start getting back to real life. So I’ve spent the past two days making phone calls to pharmacies and local hospitals in search of any available shot. No luck.
I’ve used every known internet site, including Massachusetts’ own Vaxfinder. At times I’ve had three browsers and nine tabs open at once. All of it to no avail.
Am I frustrated? Of course. Am I disappointed? Yes, indeed.
But I’m not furious. I’m not ready to start blaming the logjam on everyone from the Governor to the software firms to the pharmacies themselves.
Instead, I’m willing to wait my turn and keep on trying. I say this not because I am a particularly patient or passive woman. I say it because there are thousands of people across the state who need the shot far more urgently than I do.
Last week I was frantic to help my daughter book an appointment for a shot. That search felt like life and death to me. My daughter teaches at a public elementary…
