Fielder’s Choice

I wasn’t too high on getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

Call it stubbornness. Call it fear. Call it crazy. Call it what you want.

I haven’t had any type of vaccine since I was a baby – best I remember.

I’ve never gotten a flu vaccine. I’ve never gotten the flu – knock on wood.

Good immune system?

Maybe.

But my family told me, as I quickly approach 60, that I didn’t need to shy away from the COVID vaccine.

So, of course, I gave in.

I was the last one, in the immediate family, to schedule my COVID-19 vaccine.

That’s because I waited on the Johnson & Johnson. I figured, heck, if I have to get a shot, it would be better to get one versus two.

And, it was nice to be able to get it right here in Holly Springs, versus having to drive out of town.

Thursday morn ing of last week, when I was receiving the vaccine, I also found out about the latest news from Johnson & Johnson.

According to Fox Business, a dosage mix-up at a Baltimore production facility, which ruined about 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine, prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay shipments of the vaccine.

I said, “Wait. Wait. Can I back out?”

But I had already gotten the basically-painless shot in the left arm, and my comments were only for some good laughs.

U.S. officials said the vaccine spoilage will not impact plans to provide enough vaccine to immunize every adult by May.

In a statement provided to Fox Business, Johnson & Johnson said it expects to deliver its vaccine at a rate of more than one billion doses by the end of 2021.

The company said quality control identified one batch of drug substance that did not meet quality standards at Emergent Biosolutions, and that batch was never advanced to the filling and finishing stages of its manufacturing process.

Other friends and family members have gotten Pfizer and some Moderna.

Reactions, of course have varied.

The shots have not affected some folks at all. And then some have had issues afterwards.

I was a little nauseous after getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and then my arm was sore for a little while. But that’s about it.

During this entire process, for the last year, we’ve read and heard about CDC guidelines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and most likely your own physician, highly recommends getting a COVID-19 vaccination.

I know it doesn’t guarantee that I won’t get COVID. But it will help my body fight the virus if exposed, and hopefully prevent a hospital visit or death.

“After you’ve been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, you should keep taking precautions in public places or when you are with unvaccinated people from more than one household,” the CDC says.

I guess that’s why I have three masks on the dash of my truck.