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  2021-04-06

  Finally got my second shot

  I got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine late on the evening of Tuesday, April 6. While the process at the vaccination site at State Farm Stadium went smoothly enough, it took a lot longer. The drive from South Tempe is about 35 minutes, but there was an accident on Interstate 10, so we had to take a detour that lengthened the trip. I had an appointment for 9:21 PM, but there was a much longer line this time. By the time I got my shot and we left, it was about 10:35 PM. I felt pretty tired the next day. Nonetheless, I feel very relived to be fully vaccinated, and I am looking forward to things I will be able to do on April 20, when the vaccine will have had a full two weeks to take effect.
• 2021-02-11

  Vaccinated!

  Relief was what I felt when I received my covid vaccine. I felt even more relief when my 21-year-old daughter was able to receive her vaccine since she would not have been able to have gotten vaccinated until early summer. My first vaccine appointment was at 12:30 in the morning, and my daughter rode along with me to keep me company since I had to drive to State Farm Stadium. As we exited the freeway to go to the stadium, the parking lot where the vaccines were being administered could be seen, and I was surprised that it looked relatively vacant of vehicles. When we reached the parking lot, we were directed to follow the signs and pull up to the first checkpoint, where a person verified I had an appointment. At the second checkpoint, a person scanned in my appointment and asked if my passenger had an appointment as well. I told the person “no,” and they said, “we have had a lot of people not show up tonight for their vaccination, so if your passenger would like to get vaccinated, they are welcome to do so.” I immediately accepted the offer for my daughter to get her vaccination, and we were directed to another spot where she could fill out her paperwork for getting a shot. Once my daughter completed her paperwork, we were sent to wait in a line where the vaccines were administered, and after a five-minute wait, we had our first vaccine. After we had our shots, we were directed to wait in a line of cars for fifteen minutes to ensure we did not have any adverse reactions to the vaccination. While waiting for the fifteen minutes, an individual came to our vehicle and scheduled our second vaccination appointment, which was a huge relief since going through the computer system the state had established was cumbersome. What was surprising to my daughter and me was that while we waited during that fifteen-minute time frame, a nurse came by to ask us how we were feeling. We both said we were okay and stated we were surprised that we could get through the vaccine process so quickly and how there were so few cars. The nurse told us that many people were skipping out of their appointsments out of fear of rumored side effects from the vaccine, which was why there was extra serum for individuals like my daughter, who had ridden along. So I had the right schedule for the right night for my daughter to ride along. And now my whole household has been inoculated, which is a relief after three times of being in quarantine. Whew!
• 2020-02-05

  Father Received 2nd Dose

  The other day I went with my dad to the State Farm Stadium vaccination site in Glendale and he got his 2nd Pfizer dose. It's amazing to know that for him the pandemic is "over", as he likely will not be hospitalized if he does contract Covid-19 in the future. As my father was my main concern being a young person, it lifts a weight of my shoulders knowing if I come back from class with Covid that I won't hurt him. Currently, he is the only one in my family, including extended, who has received it. He's apart of the minority of Americans who are fully vaccinated, hopefully the numbers will increase soon.
• 2021-02-03

  Vaccinated.

  Last night I got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID. I feel like it should have been easier than this. I got my first dose of the vaccine at Chandler-Gilbert Community College, which we found out later was a county-run rather than a state-run location. Cardinals Stadium in Glendale is a state site. So the difference amounted to not getting the email about my second appointment for an anxiety-inducing long time. So when a new block opened up at the stadium, I signed up to get my second shot on the 21st day after my first, at the earliest opportunity. My husband’s appointment for his first dose is two days later. We arrived at the stadium, got my appointment number chalked on the windshield, and wove through a maze of cones and banners toward the check-in tents. When we pulled up, the lady checked my number and couldn’t find me. She searched for my birthday and couldn’t find me. She searched by my name and couldn’t find me. She took my ID and walked off to find a supervisor. I stared at my appointment confirmation email on my phone while she did all of this. The supervisor returns and, after asking to look at my email, handed me a clipboard. “We are going to sign you in as a walk-in, which doesn’t even exist right now. We can’t take walk-in rights right now because it’s possible that people with appointments won’t get their short today because our daily inventory is low.” That’s why my husband was not one of the lucky ones that we have heard stories about who got to get their dose early by coming along with someone who had an appointment sooner than them. I filled out the form, the lady made me a new appointment on her tablet, and the confirmation email for an appointment slot one hour before appeared. We turned the truck back on and moved through the second maze to the next set of tents, where they covered the same questions before sending us under the second tent where a younger man gloved up, came around to the passenger door, and quickly injected me. He must have seen that we were younger as we pulled up, even with our masks on, because he said to me, “Alright, I will give you this if when I do you scream, FUCK COVID,” which of course I agreed to. But if you have had the vaccine yet, you know it goes by so quickly that I barely got out the FU.. before he said, “okay, you’re good to go.” A third maze brought us to the line of cars waiting their 15 minutes to see if they have a bad reaction before pulling out and heading back home. I now had my second dose, and my husband has yet to get his first, so we didn’t need the help of the people milling between cars signing up people for second doses who had just gotten their first. We got to the front of the escape line and then were released, maybe a few minutes before the 15 were really up, but we were off. My COVID card is complete. When I got my first dose, the guidance was that 30 days after your second dose is your true “good to go” date because it has had time to take effect, but in the last three weeks, that has been shortened to two weeks. I don’t know if that is smart or accurate, or if, like everything, people want this to hurry along so things can go back to “normal” after we have been at this for a year. But vaccines are still hard to get, kids can’t get it, and we don’t know how long it will be effective, so maybe we shouldn’t get too excited.
• 2021-02-04

  Vaccine

  On January 17, I received my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ. What most stood out to me about this experience was how streamlined and efficient everything was. I never even had to get out of my car and I only spent a total of about 20 minutes there! I was also struck by the hundreds of employees/volunteers who were at the site around midnight. I'm sure most of them weren't there for the money -- if they were getting paid at all -- but rather were there because they genuinely care about people and want to do their part to put COVID-19 in the rearview mirror. This was a good reminder that, although at times it seems like everything is broken in contemporary America, there are some things that still work. I'll be back at State Farm Stadium on Sunday for my second dose!
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  2020-04-15

  Mailbox note regarding drop offs and deliveries (Glendale, Arizona)

  A sign posted on a mailbox in Glendale, Arizona regarding postal service work during COVID-19