Last year at this time my city was stirring out of its complacency but not yet in a state of shock . The Wuhan virus had just made its presence felt worldwide and was making inroads globally. We wondered how things would pan out .

Foolishly, we felt that we were immune simply because we didn’t travel abroad, didn’t travel by public transport, didn’t eat processed food, didn’t live in unhygienic conditions , etc etc .

By the end of the month, a lockdown was imposed on the entire country and and we felt the panic rise slowly day by day. We , the safe and protected actually began cowering in our safety bubbles.

Throughout the year we kept hoping that the virus would go away as mysteriously as it came. After all our lives had changed dramatically and almost overnight.

This was followed by others ( not necessarily in this order ) : Pfizer , Moderna , Johnson and Johnson . Vaccines became indigenously produced by Serum Institute , Biotech, Zydus .

Then we hoped there’d be a cure or a prophylactic . Anything that would take us back to our lives BC ( Before Corona ) . And sure enough there were trickles of news that a vaccine was being developed.

Within weeks , people like me who only knew about typhoid vaccinations and polio drops soon learnt everything about vaccines.

We could parrot at will that “A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins.” ( thanks Wikipedia)

Doubting Thomases

As was to be expected there were many nay sayers and doubters who couldn’t believe that a vaccine could be produced so fast .

They doubted the authenticity of the claim that the virus would actually provide complete immunity .

They were convinced that the vaccine was actually a substance that would alter our RNA or DNA.

Some were sure that this was a plot by Tech companies to implant something in our systems so that we could all be traceable at all times .

Honestly, everyone was so convinced that this was some giant scam that many of my friends swore not to go anywhere near the vaccine .

The scene today

But as we all know things change .

Since early this year, when our frontline health workers began getting their jabs, we the ordinary folk began looking enviously at the doctors, nurses policemen and even conservation staff who were one step safer from the virus than we were.

Once again doubts were raised: will the vaccine be effective against the new strain of virus ?

And when the virus began mutating , panic levels again began slowly building up .

Finally on March 1st when the government announced that the vaccine would be available to all , there was a mad scramble to register on the once scorned Arogyasetu.

Then began the search for slots and the search for “do we know anyone who can give us the shot quickly ?”

Messages began flying on WhatsApp once more giving minute by minute updates on which hospital had the vaccine, how many allowed walk-ins, how long the queues were etc etc .

Today my dear friend got herself vaccinated and sent me a photo of herself with the caption

Just got it . Reached here at 2 , showed my token , they let me into the ac part of the hospital immediately .. 2 lines , one to register one to pay ..All took half hour . Am waiting half hour now

This place is like a fair ground , after taking injections and waiting .. people taking pics with placards .. putting face in cutout’s .. and taking pics , very relaxed and festive feeling around ..😊

My other friend and her mother-in-law are now waiting in line at the same place

And there are others whom I know of who have already had their first shot and who will ask me

“Have you had your shot yet ?”

I am now beginning to get the jitters and hope to tell them (and you) about my experience when I’m done .

Ciao

Feature Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels