As of Friday, I’ll be fully vaccinated. It will have been two weeks since my second Pfizer shot, and according to new CDC guidance, that means I can for the most part leave the mask behind and be more confident going out in the world. Erin will reach that mark on Sunday.
We were talking a little about it on Tuesday and Erin asked me how I felt about being just a few days from being fully vaccinated. I have to say, my answer was…I don’t know.
Will I feel relieved to have that layer of protection from COVID? Absolutely. This isn’t about whether I feel good about getting the shots. I absolutely do. Especially given that I have my first work trip in over a year coming up next month, I feel infinitely better about that prospect knowing that I am fully vaccinated.
I have plenty of friends who describe jubilant feelings of reaching the full vaccination point, thrilled to return to normal life. That is awesome, and I’m all about that. I wish I could feel the same way. Like lots of parents out there, while I might feel personally fantastic about being vaccinated, that doesn’t mean COVID is over. We have two children under 12 and no idea when they can get the shot. So for us, and millions of other families out there, this is not over.
It’s like getting on a lifeboat from a sinking ship and people being surprised that you aren’t sufficiently excited about it, when the fact is your kids are still on the boat. “Well, kids are pretty good swimmers,” they’ll say, thinking that is consolation.
And that’s where we are here. Yes, absolutely, children have a lower chance of getting severe cases of COVID, but that chance is not anywhere near zero. In fact, anyone who asks me why I’m still concerned about COVID is going to get a free link to this Bloomberg story about the rise in cases of long-haul COVID among children. It’s little understood and not pleasant sounding, and I don’t want any part of my kids getting that.
So the challenge now is finding ways to right-size our caution to the new reality. With more people vaccinated and plenty of research showing the risk of outdoor transmission is minimal, we’ll probably pull back some on outdoor masking. And while several stores have said it’s OK to remove the masks inside if you’re vaccinated, I’ll still be wearing mine with my kids because they do need to wear them and I’m not going to tell them to do something I’m not doing.
The entire pandemic has been an extremely confusing time to be a parent, and right now might be the most confusing moment of all. I know many parents feel like everyone around us is popping the bubbly, but we are still concerned about keeping our kids safe, and there doesn’t seem to be much attention paid to the fact that children are still very much at risk.
And even on a personal level, I don’t know how it’s going to feel to travel again and be out in the world. I wish I could say the shot made me beam with confidence, but after all we’ve been through, it’s a bit scary. I found this recent piece in Vice interesting…it’s about the fact that some people might take a little longer to ditch the protective measures because, I dunno we all just undewent a year of terrifying trauma and maybe it isn’t so easy to shake off.
I’m sure we’ll find our balance, like we always have, but we will certainly slow walk things and play it safe for the sake of our kids. When I’m fully vaccinated, I will certainly celebrate. Maybe I’ll have a nice cocktail and treat myself to only washing my hands for 1o seconds.
