I am a teacher, and I want to be vaccinated ASAP. Not because I am a teacher and I feel unsafe at work (I don’t) but because I am a human person and I am really tired of “all this.” I see friends and family posting on Facebook, “first shot done!” and I seethe with envy.
Peggy Akers, a nurse with Northern Light Health, fills a syringe with Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during a Feb. 14 immunization clinic on Peaks Island. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Maine did a nice job getting shots in arms for the first week of the vaccination campaign, but it isn’t any longer. Dr. Nirav Shah and colleagues, be more transparent. We listen to briefing after briefing making excuses for opacity because, supposedly, it’s better to not say anything than to say something and be wrong.
As a teacher of young teens, I will remind you – that is false. Done is better than perfect. Effort always counts. It’s much better for people to have a sense of a plan, to have the slightest inkling that they are cared for, than to feel alone in the dark.
I don’t think anyone expects a specific or perfect timeline! But seriously, give some time frames. People under 70 need information. We deserve reassurance that we haven’t been forgotten. We need to look ahead to a better time. We’ve masked, dealt with crippling loneliness, lost jobs or worked a thousand times harder while accomplishing less. We need to know there are shots coming, and we need to know (approximately) when this will occur.
Until there’s not a line, yell to the folks at the back, and tell them the line is moving.
Erin Hullinger
Portland
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