by CKR
PLS and I got our flu shots this morning. Early this morning.
Shots were supposed to start at eight, but the line was beginning to snake around the sidewalk by 7:30 in the drizzle, so the staff started letting us in when they were ready.
Long tables of candystripers to explain the forms and get our signatures. As we lined up after the tables, signed forms in hand, we were urged to bare our upper arms. This is not easy when you are holding an umbrella, a purse, a shoulder bag with a thermos of coffee and two cups, and the signed form.
But we shed one side of our jackets and pushed our shirts up just in time to be directed toward a free nurse in a room that must have held thirty of them and hundreds (thousands?) of hypodermics.
"Are you allergic to eggs?" echoed around the room, and we duly assured the nurses we were not and pulled up our sleeves a little higher. Wrinkle nose, close eyes.
A steady flow of us made our way back to the parking lot.
Helpful people with wheelchairs were bringing the oldest people to the front of the line. As we headed toward the car, a traffic officer suggested we exit via St. Michael's Drive. Cars were coming in from the other direction, where another traffic officer kept them going in the right direction.
It gave me a little more confidence that in Santa Fe, anyway, we'll have a chance at dealing with whatever flu epidemic may show up. Not only is a flu clinic like this a confidence-builder for the public, it gives St. Vincent's experience in delivering large-scale inoculation.
That is, if there's enough vaccine. That question is, unfortunately, in the purview of a federal government that thinks it's the problem. Except for waging wars.