About that booster...

Now, I don’t mean to complain. Well, actually, maybe I do, a little. Partly in jest, and partly in all seriousness.

You see, I believe in science, and I want to trust scientists. But there are times, I admit, that I have a problem with it all. This is when the anti-scientists have their opinions settled completely and aren’t budging, and the scientists can’t make up their doggone minds.

Case in point: Covid vaccine boosters. In the beginning, it was kinda like, “We’re not really sure if boosters are necessary, or even if they’re a good idea.”

Next, it was, “Yep, everybody needs to get a booster.”

Okay, the next thing I heard was “Eight months after your second vaccination.” I know good and well that’s what I heard. So that was the deal.

Or at least it was, until I started hearing about six months after my second vaccination. Uh, I thought...

And now, it seems we’ve almost come full circle. “The booster isn’t really needed. Well, maybe for those whose immune systems are compromised. And certain age groups.”

All of this is terribly interesting, except that even if my age group is included, I can’t get a booster no matter how long it’s been since my second shot, because as of this writing, Moderna hasn’t been okayed for booster shots.

On the other hand, if Alice falls in the right age group, she can get a booster when or if they decide the timing is right, or if it’s even necessary. Because she got Pfizer. How my wife and I ended up getting different vaccines is another story, also dealing with when certain ages were allowed to get shots.

I just wish the scientists would make a decision and stay with it. The only time that I recall scientists sticking to their original theme is with tobacco. Once they came down on tobacco, they’ve stayed down on tobacco. I haven’t heard a single doctor or scientist say that smoking is really good for you, after all.

However, usually things go back and forth. Eggs, for instance, were considered practically evil at one time. You would whisper the word, “Egg,” and keel over dead. Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration. Anyway, eggs have made a comeback of sorts.

And I admit, it’s not always the scientists’ fault. Sometimes a preliminary finding or a simple conclusion is grabbed onto and expanded upon by a group I like to refer to as the mental droolers, those who are willfully, deliberately ignorant. An example? Okay, let's talk about gluten. Gluten is bad for folks with celiac disease, and there’s no doubt about it, proven, accepted. But we’ve had folks screaming that gluten is poison to anyone. No scientist worth his or her salt said that. It was invented out of thin air by the mental droolers.

Still, I’d love to hear something conclusive on these Covid boosters, something that won’t be changed next week. I’d like to know if Alice or I should get the booster or not, and if so, when. Folks, that’s not an unreasonable thing for which to wish.

•••••

I was pleased last Friday night to hear the Forrest City Mustangs win a football game, their first win of the season. I was listening to Richard and Janet, and cheering the radio. It’s something on which to build. But even if they don’t win another game, they won this one, and their fans should be proud of the team.

I can say this because I went to high school in Memphis, and our particular school was in a situation that wasn’t good, football-wise. We would go to pep rallies and scream ourselves hoarse, then show up at games and scream ourselves hoarse again. And then we’d get smushed. My high school just didn’t have a good football team during my years there.

But we still yelled at pep rallies and rooted at games. We were gonna get ‘em this time. And even if we didn’t we’d still cheer. Because they were our guys and we loved them. Football nights were still special, even for teams that didn’t win a lot.

I went through much the same thing with my college football team. “Playboy” magazine used to rank us in the bottom 25, and at least once it ranked us the worst team in the country. That’s not true now, because my old alma mater may not be a contender for a national title, but has achieved some respect.

But, back to high school football. I'd like to think that this year’s Mustangs are better than we were back then. They can still have a good in-conference season. The ‘Stangs had some bad breaks early, but now they’ve tasted victory. They know how it feels to win. And frankly, that beats losing, any day.

So let’s love and support them, both those who can get out and go to the games, and those of us who may not be as spry and they once were, but who can say like the old country song, “I saw it all on my radio.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: David Nichol is a freelance writer who retired from the Times-Herald. He can be contacted at nicholdb@cablelynx.com.)