Our Parish Nurse, Ann Yeo, is eagerly awaiting the opportunity for her husband and herself to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but she realizes that the supply of vaccines is limited for now and that other people are further ahead in the priority line for a vaccination.

The Washington Dept. of Health has launched a tool, called Phase Finder, to help Washingtonians determine their eligibility for a vaccine. That tool is accessible here.  At this time, you should still plan to contact your primary site for health care regarding getting your vaccine. It’s possible, however, with the seating of the new Administration in Washington, DC, that mass vaccination sites may be eventually organized (reminiscent of the polio vaccination efforts in the 1950s), and such news will be widely publicized.

In the meantime, we continue the “3 W’s” – wear a mask, wash your hands, and watch your distance.

Once we are vaccinated, life will be safer, of course; but life will not immediately return to the way it was in 2019. A thoughtful article, “What You Can Do Post-Vaccine, and When” in the New York Times on 12/21/20 talked about post-vaccine life in several phases:

• What’s safer to do once I’m vaccinated?
• What’s safer to do once my family and friends are vaccinated?
• What’s safer to do once most of the population is vaccinated?
• What will the new normal look like?

As science and medicine continue to learn more about COVID-19, the answers to those questions may change, of course. But the article, which you can read here provides us with a useful perspective as we look forward.

-Ann Yeo, RN, MSN, Certified Holistic Nurse