Taking the shot
Reporter gets first dose of Moderna vaccine
Since I am a reporter and photojournalist covering local news in Tuolumne County and elsewhere in the Mother Lode and the Central Sierra, I have been reporting nearly every day about the coronavirus pandemic and its impacts here in Sonora and Tuolumne County for the past year.
I’m 59 years old. I learned a long time ago to avoid worry and expending energy on things I have little to no control over. I tested negative for coronavirus once at the Frogtown test site in September. I didn’t care when I would get to take the vaccine, and I wasn’t about to get stressed out about it. I knew if I got invited to sign up for it, I would do that and see what happens.
I reported Monday the Tuolumne County Office of Emergency Services coordinator had announced vaccines for individuals 55 and older are supposed to be available this week. She said a vaccine clinic was scheduled Tuesday at an undisclosed location for people 55 and older.
Anyone interested was supposed to fill out an online vaccine inquiry form on the county’s website at https://www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov/1317/covid-vaccine. So I did that and forgot about it.
Tuesday morning a friend in his 50s texted
I know people who are anxious to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and I know people who are adamant about not taking the vaccine.
me he was in line to get his vaccine, so I checked my email. The email had arrived between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., and it was from a sender called TC Public Health Vaccine.
“Good morning, Thank you for signing up on our vaccine interest form,” the email stated. “Today, Tuesday, March 16, 2021 from 10:30-3:30 we have 500 open spots for those 55 and older. We are hoping that you would be able to attend our clinic today, which is a drive through clinic. Total time is a little less than an hour from start to finish.”
I was directed to be prepared to show my driver’s license at time of check-in to be admitted for vaccination, as well as proof of employment, such as paystub or other identifying information, to show that I am in a work sector eligible to be vaccinated. I was also directed to print out a registration form and fill it out and bring it with me.
“Those not over the age of 55 will be asked for this information,” the email stated. “The event is located at Sierra Bible Church at: 15171 Tuolumne Rd, Sonora, CA 95370.”
I arrived at the vaccine clinic staging area at 11:10 a.m. and pulled over to take a few photos. It was set up like other drivethrough vaccination clinics and COVID-19 testing sites.
There was a big parking lot with orange traffic cones, orange traffic poles and yellow tape to make lanes for drivers. There were helpful people in masks, face shields, and green, orange, or red high-visibility traffic vests. Many of them were directing traffic. One asked to see my filled-out registration form. Another asked to see my driver’s license.
I was directed through the maze of traffic barriers to a couple stop signs, where I was asked to wait. I received a phone call at 11:18 a.m. from a caller identified as CA COVID Team, and a man asked me if I was still interested in getting the vaccine. I told him I was in line at the vaccination clinic site and we said goodbye. Then I was directed to pull into an individual station, where it looked like I would get my shot.
By 11:20 a.m. I was parked at my station with my engine shut off, and a helper named Hunter came to collect my registration form. He asked me if I’d ever had any adverse reactions to medications or vaccinations before. I told him no.
Hunter used a wet swab to clean a spot on my upper right arm and put the needle in. I didn’t feel it, in part because I was trying to take a photo. He put a small, light blue, adhesive bandage over the spot where the needle went in. The bandage had a squadron of cartoon Bugs Bunny figures on it. Each of the Bugs figures was smiling and gesturing and generally behaving like a wise-ass.
By 11:25 a.m. we were done, and Hunter placed a sticky note on my windshield that said 11:40 on it. County public health had advised me in the morning email that I would need to remain at the vaccine clinic site, in my vehicle, for a 15-minute observation period after receiving the vaccine, to ensure I am not experiencing an adverse reaction.
I was given a COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card that noted my name, date of birth, my first dose of Moderna vaccine, administered March 16, 2021, and the healthcare professional or clinic site as TCPH / HM. The card directed me to come back for my second vaccine dose in April.
Altogether Tuesday, I arrived, I was on-site, and I was cleared to drive away in 30 minutes.
I had spoken to a woman in a car parked next to mine in the waiting observation area and asked to interview her. She declined and suggested I call her daughter, who was there to get her shot in another vehicle.
Tori Gast, 17, a student at Summerville High School, a resident of Twain Harte, and a worker at Motherlode Car Wash, said her mom suggested Tuesday she come for a shot so she did. Gast said it wasn’t totally clear from her mom if she would definitely get a shot, but her mom suggested it was worth the trouble to come and try for it.
Gast said she worried the shot would hurt and maybe she would get sick from it. She was relieved afterward.
“I took the vaccine today, the needle hurt, it’s sharp, it is a needle,” Gast said Tuesday afternoon. “But the shot itself didn’t hurt. I thought I would get sick, but I hear the first shot you don’t get sick. Right after I went to Subway. Had a spicy Italian six-inch. I was hungry.”
Gast said she got to leave from the vaccine clinic site at 11:55 a.m. She said she had been tested several times for COVID-19.
“Totally, I got tested back in October, November, and then I got tested maybe five-six times altogether, for school, if I was around people who tested positive. I was quarantined once. I tested negative.”
She said she had heard getting the vaccine was very stressful and the wait would be an hour long, so she was worried. But it was much shorter than that, and everybody was nice. It took a half hour at most, if that, Gast said.
Gast said she wanted to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because she works at Motherlode Car Wash and they’re going to be opening a hot dog stand. She had asked her boss about how to get vaccinated, and when her mom went Tuesday and suggested she come down, she did.
Gast said the process went smooth for her and she thinks everyone should get vaccinated.
“I think everybody should get it to keep everybody safe,” she said. “People can believe whatever they want about the vaccine, that’s their right. But I think the vaccine is going to be required in a lot of places and then they can’t go there, and they’ll complain. It’s simple, just get the vaccine. You don’t have to worry. You keep other people safe, especially the elderly and people with other conditions.”
Gast said she also got a blue Bugs Bunny adhesive bandage after her shot.
Gary Deutsch, 56, a sound-and-lighting engineer since the 1980s who is based in Sonora, also went to get vaccinated Tuesday.
“I was in awe with how smooth and efficient and together they had their act,” Deutsch said Tuesday afternoon. Asked if he was expecting something otherwise, Deutsch said, “It’s Tuolumne County. I was expecting chaos. I was totally impressed with how organized it was.”
Deutsch said he had no qualms about getting vaccinated, because “I grew up a vaccinated child. We got vaccinated for everything in elementary school. That’s what everybody did.”
Deutsch said he didn’t feel any pain from the needle or the shot. He said he spent two weeks in a hospital with pneumonia in 2019, so he really wanted to get vaccinated against COVID-19. His mom, in her early 80s, and his dad, in his mid 80s, have both had their two doses of vaccine. His dad went two weeks for his second dose, and he took his mom for her second dose last week.
“We’re ready to party,” Deutsch said of he and his parents Tuesday afternoon. About the atmosphere at the vaccine clinic site, he said, “Everybody was polite and nice. It seemed like everybody was happy and competent, doing their jobs.”
Deutsch said he has a couple friends who are against the vaccine, and he’s been trying to convince them they need to get it. He tells them, “Everything you read about how you shouldn’t get the vaccine is 90% bull----. It’s important, to protect themselves and everybody else. That’s the main thing, to protect the other people in your neighborhood and community. That’s why we got the smallpox vaccine years ago. To make sure everyone was protected.”
Deustch said the adhesive bandage he got after his shot fell off, and he never saw what was on it.
A state vaccine dashboard updated Tuesday showed 21,310 doses administered in Tuolumne County.
Dr. Eric Sergienko, the county’s interim health officer, said at a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday that roughly 25% of the county’s population of about 54,000 have received at least one dose of the vaccine since they started offering them first to health care workers in December.
Public health experts say the goal is for between 80% and 90% to get the vaccine in order to achieve herd immunity. There was no data available Tuesday on how the percentage of people in the county who are refusing to take the voluntary shot.
The county anticipates being able to offer the shot to everyone 16 and older regardless of health conditions by sometime in April.
As of Tuesday, coronavirus had contributed to the deaths of more than 55,370 Californians and 536,600 Americans since the global pandemic began to take hold in the Golden State and the rest of the United States a year ago.