When Governor DeSantis announced that he was lowering the age for those eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, I was relieved. I registered at MyVaccine.fl.gov and selected “get in line.” Within two days of my completing the online questions, I had a call around 7 pm from Tara who wanted to schedule my appointment. She smiled when she spoke (you know those that don’t right?) and one of her first questions was if I had a Florida Driver’s license. I said yes and asked if she wanted the number and she said absolutely not – she just didn’t want those from Vermont coming to Florida to take our vaccine inventory. She asked a few more questions, explained a few more details and I was off the phone in less than 5 minutes.
Three days later, I drove to the vaccine site about 15 minutes from my home and watched a human machine unfold from the moment I queued up behind about 20 cars and was waved onto the vaccine property until I was “jabbed.” There were kind National Guard members, nursing students from Florida State University, and volunteers who checked and double checked my single page form for accuracy. My favorite was Chad, who greeted me in the line while I waited 15 minutes post-vaccine to make sure I didn’t have an adverse reaction. Chad is a Tallahassee firefighter when he isn’t on the front lines of a well-oiled vaccine operation. It was actually a celebration, so much so, that I asked Rick, another volunteer who greeted me as I exited, “where is the breakfast buffet?!” You know us southerners – any good time involves food!
After 12 months of not being able to do anything about the coronavirus pandemic, it felt wonderful to finally have control back and do something proactive, such as take the vaccine. So I encourage each of you, even my doubting and skeptical no vax friends, to get the shot(s). And with that story, we have a few more. We have so much in our Bill Watch this edition that we’ve trimmed some of our usual story roundup but this is still a great edition for your reading pleasure.
LMA Newsletter of 3-29-21
