I got my first dose of COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) this afternoon. This was a lot sooner than I expected since Missouri is dead last in the nation in the percentage of citizens vaccinated. I was thinking April, maybe.

Our doctors are affiliated with the University of Missouri Hospitals in nearby Columbia so we signed up to their program. On Monday of this week they began online scheduling and –being over 65– I was able to get an appointment.

MU is using Faurot Field as their vaccination site. Not the stadium but what looked to me like the VIP area where the Big Shots watch the games. It was all very well organized and I was in an out in no time. I’m sure it will get more hectic when they start mass vaccinations.

I’ve thought a good deal about vaccinations in recent months. I get a flu shot every year and I’ve been vaccinated for pneumonia and shingles. As a child in the ’50s I was vaccinated against polio and smallpox and all of the other childhood diseases. But at my age (73 next month), COVID-19 could be a death sentence. Worse than death in my opinion. So getting this vaccine had a very real life-or-death feel to it.

If we can believe the CDC (and I do now), the Pfizer vaccine might be 95% effective. While there seems to be lots of questions about just what that means, there’s a good chance it will keep me out of the hospital and off a ventilator.

I go back for the booster shot in 21 days. According to the studies, some immunity starts 10 to 14 days after the first dose, but full immunity appears seven to 14 days after the second. Full immunity. Has a nice ring to it. But you won’t see me out and about without a mask for at least the next six months. We’ll avoid being indoors and still order our groceries online. Not much will change. But we (Barb got her first shot last week) will have some immunity. What a beautiful word. It feels like a super power.

Yes, there will be mutations of the virus and the scientists will be scrambling for years, doing their best to come up with new and more effective vaccines. My secret hope is this process will lead to vaccines for the common cold and other more serious diseases.

PS: Wore my favorite T-shirt (by Dylan Sisson) because you can’t see my shit-eating grin behind the mask.