Are You Feeling Impfneid?
When I was in high school, I took German. It’s a funny language. They smush words together to make new words. Covid has created a lot of new German words:
I’m seeing a lot of that in the office.
Impfdrängler is someone who pushes their way to the front of the line to get a vaccine inappropriately. My old patients lament their many illnesses and ask why they cannot get a vaccine but their 30-year-old neighbor finished their two shots weeks ago.
An angry resident of one of the more rural counties adjacent to us asked why all their politicians got a vaccine before the Nursing Home residents and staff got a vaccine. I’m actually amazed at how many staff at Assisted Living and Nursing Home facilities have still not been able to receive the vaccine.
Here in Virginia, signing up for a vaccine continues to be a mess:
So, enjoy your Impfneid!
I retired last July 1st and had a negative Covid test just prior. Since I don’t see patients anymore, my priority to receive the vaccine has gone to the end of the line. Fine by me. I can hole up at home and due do my rural location can easily go out shopping for food and such when masked.
The rest of the world might think we’re stupid “hicks” but I’m really proud of the fact that my fellow humans in this rural area are maintaining wearing masks when out and in closer proximity to others while shopping. Even then, folks respectfully maintain their distance to protect themselves and others. I compare this to the sacrifices made on the home front during World War II as mentioned by my parents and grand parents.
Strangers watching out for each other. The elderly, (which I’m not quite a part of yet as I’m “only” 64 like the Beatles song.) the medical folks that see patients and folks in the service industries that have to deal with a lot of the public deserve priority for vaccines. Oh, I could trump up the fact I had prostate cancer 4 years ago, had surgery, found out I had a local metastases which was easily zapped with “rads” and hit with Lupron but the PSA is staying at undetectable so I’m o.k. for now. If I make it 10 years disease free with low PSA, I’m going to hit up the doc for injectable testosterone only to combat the chronic fatigue I’m stuck with at the present time due to deprivation. I figure at 10 years a little steroid probably wouldn’t hurt and could help the chronic fatigue as long as no evidence for recurrence.
Hopefully, with widespread vaccination things can get closer to “normal” but there are still “stupidheads” out there who will refuse vaccination because they are ignorant.
Kurt
I just had an attorney (28 years old and healthy) come into the office bragging about how he had finagled his way into getting the vaccine. His excuse was he travels on vacation a lot and needs the vaccine to fly.
If you if you or your physician or are associated with a major medical center, you may benefit from “Clout by Association” or other benefits of organizational competence. I am in the Boston area, and one swipe at the state and municipal websites was more than enough to send me to my major-medical-center-affiliated PCP and the in-house system. The wait was still about three weeks, nominal for my 75+ age group, but no fret, no sweat.