Race Against Time (Last Part)

Previously on L'Heure Bleue

IV.

The week after my mother received her last dose of Sinovac, I became a strong advocate of vaccination. I have seen friends suffer from the effects of Covid so I told anyone within earshot to get the vaccine, no matter what the brand is.

Persuading the boyfriend, though, was another story. Being a person with a disability, it was necessary for him to get immunization as soon as possible. Getting the jab isn't the problem as he has always been a man of science, but like everyone, he had second thoughts about getting the China-made ones. He preferred doses with higher efficacy like the one being offered by Moderna or Pfizer. In the end, he decided to wait for the vaccines to be procured by their office. It might be months before it gets shipped, but at least, it was from a more reputable pharmaceutical company.

He also said he had already signed up for it.

But I digress.

V.

Mid-May and the surge of Covid cases at the beginning of summer had somehow ebbed. It gave everyone a sense of relief, while in other countries like India, Covid deaths numbered a thousand every day. Health experts suspect it was a new and more contagious variant. Meanwhile, the vaccine rollout in the metro continued unabated and the Weatherman had, at last, received a schedule. At the same time, a vaccine is being offered by his doctor so for him, it was just a matter of choice.

I would have preferred his doctor's vaccine even if it was less effective. It had mild side effects and the doctor would be the one to administer it. Knowing firsthand that she would just be a call away if problems come up, I think it was a worthwhile tradeoff. I told him to ask the doctor's advice and she shared the same insight. The next day, I drove the partner to the clinic. The inoculation process was fast and true to our expectations, he barely felt the side effects.

It would have been a different story had he taken the Astrazeneca being offered by the local government.

VI

The days in between the Weatherman's first Sinovac dose and the fateful morning, when I showed up at the Moises Salvador Elementary School to inquire about getting a vaccine and going home with my first jab were of little consequence. Life somehow became mundane. We were clandestinely doing road trips again going to the Sierra Madre - seeing breathtaking vistas for the first time, and we were finally meeting friends, even if we had to keep ourselves some distance as told by the doctors. The only other highlight was the boyfriend's siblings getting their jab as walk-in patients. 

On the day I got my immunization, one of the kasambahays got hers and so was the brother-in-law. 

When I completed my Sinovac doses a month later, only one extended family member (an elderly uncle, who would rather believe in hearsay than facts from her doctor sibling) remains defiant of the vaccine. 

This, so far, was our journey and we did race against time to protect those closest to our hearts. The Covid explosion in India and then in Indonesia, where mass graves had to be readied for the huge number of deaths, had finally arrived in the country last August. 

Known as the Delta Variant, it spreads thrice as fast as the original Covid strain from last year. And the vaccines that give us immunity, will eventually lose their efficacy. 

It is just a matter of time.

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