Weather, Planning, and Vaccinations

TBG was the first in the family to snag an appointment for the first dose of Moderna.  That was the first deep breath we took since Pandemica arrived; on February 25th at 10:20am he would be on his way to health and safety.

Little Cuter and I manage to schedule two doses for me at Walgreens; TBG turned down my offer to schedule one for him there, too.  He had one appointment.  Why test fate by locking in an insurance bid?

We were all set.  Our two doses would be finished in time for traveling in April.  The transmissibility results were encouraging.  We were gently treading from cautious optimism to actual hope.

Climate change seems to have dashed those hopes.  

Anyone who doesn't think that rashes of fires in the west and snowstorms in the south and floods all over the planet aren't a result of our disrespect for our planet needs to take a basic Earth Science course.  I still remember It's all connected as one of the lessons I learned in 8th grade.  The Bride and her family are enjoying a light dusting and freezing temperatures in Alabama.  FlapJilly and SIR are spending hours taking videos of the slalom course he shoveled in the back yard for her sled-pulled-by-tractor runs.  

Note the home improvised Go-Pro camera on her helmet.  Duct tape, paper towels, and several failed attempts didn't dampen their spirits.  It was so much fun that they woke Giblet from his nap so that he could play, too.

But all that snow created havoc in the supply chain.  And that did not bode well for TBG's upcoming vaccination appointment.  I resisted checking the site.  For two days, I didn't look at all.  Then I read the newspaper.  Not only is Gov. Ducey reserving most of the vaccines on hand for Maricopa County and those Phoenix area Republicans,  he's reducing the number of doses we'll receive here in Pima County in the future.  

With that information percolating in my brain, I opened the MHC website.  The Community Clinic which was to inoculate TBG posted a well written, lengthy, thorough notice atop the usual website home page.  They explained the delays - political and meteorological - and laid the blame squarely at the feet of those responsible.

I can't wait until he tries to run for Governor.

Vaccines scheduled for last week were pushed to this week.  Those scheduled for this week (like TBG) are cancelled indefinitely.  

I took a few deep breaths before I read the rest of the blurb.  MHC promised to get in touch with everyone who was scheduled, both to notify and assist with rescheduling.  As of Sunday at lunchtime, we haven't heard a thing.  I can't blame them for not sending a sorry we can't help you right now email, but it would have been nice.  

Nicer still would have been a 45th President who made a plan while we waited for the supplies.  There is only one company making the basic lipids needed by all the manufacturers.  They are licensing their patent to other companies now, but couldn't that  have been foreseen last Spring? Government doesn't run by itself.  Hollowing out the infrastructure providing the manpower and the brain power only served to exacerbate the problem.

And now, we wait.  Little Cuter and I are on all the websites - Walgreens and Fry's and AZDHS and Pima County Health Department - and so are all my friends.  We have all promised to telephone one another if we spot a break in the dam.  

Unfortunately, the 12,000 people who were cancelled out of their appointments at the fancy schmancy UofA Mall site are also going to be in the hunt.  I predict another round of battling with clunky websites overwhelmed by anxious typists.

There had to be a better way.