The Equitable Jab Blues – Word Jazz

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:14 — 8.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS | More

Going a bit nuts, a ray of hope, finding the vaccine, inequities galore. Get the vaccine, keep wearing your mask, physically distance, keep the faith. Best listened to.

Blog subscribers: Listen to the podcast here. Scroll down through show notes to read the post.

Subscribe to Health Hats, the Podcast, on your favorite podcast player

• at the comment section at the bottom of the show notes
• on LinkedIn
• via email
• DM on Instagram or Twitter to @healthhats

Credits

The views and opinions presented in this podcast and publication are solely the responsibility of the author, Danny van Leeuwen, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute®  (PCORI®), its Board of Governors or Methodology Committee.

Music by permission from Joey van Leeuwen, Drummer, Composer, Arranger

Web and Social Media Coach Kayla Nelson @lifeoflesion

Photo by Steven Cornfield on Unsplash

Sponsored by Abridge

Related podcasts and blogs

Covid-19. People Living Safely.

Person-First Safe Living in a Pandemic: Part 2: Finding Guidance

Kind Re-Equilibration in the Age of Coronavirus

Links

Addressing Racial Equity in Vaccine Distribution

A Framework for Equitable Allocation of Vaccine for the Novel Coronavirus

MA COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Timeline: Phase Overview

When Vaccine is Limited, Who Should Get Vaccinated First?

In the Bubble podcast – Toolkit: Where is my Vaccine?

Ken Nordeen Word Jazz

About the Show

Welcome to Health Hats, learning on the journey toward best health. I am Danny van Leeuwen, a two-legged, old, cisgender, white man with privilege, living in a food oasis, who can afford many hats and knows a little about a lot of healthcare and a lot about very little. Most people wear hats one at a time, but I wear them all at once. We will listen and learn about what it takes to adjust to life’s realities in the awesome circus of healthcare. Let’s make some sense of all this.

To subscribe go to https://health-hats.com/

Creative Commons Licensing

The material found on this website created by me is Open Source and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution. Anyone may use the material (written, audio, or video) freely at no charge. Please cite the source as: ‘From Danny van Leeuwen, Health Hats. (including the link to my website). I welcome edits and improvements. Please let me know. [email protected]. The material on this site created by others is theirs and use follows their guidelines.

The Show

I’ve got the Covid Isolation Blues. I never go anywhere. OK, life is good. I love working from home.  My wife and I get along fine. We got a dog. I take my daily walks. But enough already! Somebody doesn’t turn on their video, I wanna cry. This is crazy. Let me out!

I wanna hug my kids and grandkids.  I wanna celebrate paying off our mortgage – a dinner out, a live show, and late-night bar hopping. OK, we never bar hopped. But this coronavirus isolation is getting old. I’ve got the COVID Vaccination Blues.

OMG, deep cleansing breath. A sliver of hope with a new administration prepared to follow the science and not try to fool us with happy talk. Dr. Fauci is unleashed. We have vaccinations! I want to get into the queue. Now! I have a fever for the jab.

But, what a mess. I’m on all sorts of federal, state, and local lists. I never hear anything. Each health system says they’re not providing vaccinations. Our local health department said, ‘we’re only getting 40% of the doses we were promised.’ I’ve got the COVID Vaccination Blues.

I got a text last week from a friend. ‘Go to the pharmacy site and register for the vaccine. They’re doing a pilot in NY and MA. But there’s a glitch in the software. You have to answer the first question, ‘Do you live in NY?’ with a yes.’ Even though I live in MA.

‘If you say no, you can’t schedule an appointment. If you say yes, you’ll be able to select the MA pilot site.’ Now, I’m 68 with several underlying conditions, on immunosuppressive infusions, with low risk of exposure. I’m relatively healthy, mobile, and safe. I’ve got the Equitable Jab Blues.

I should be in Phase 2b.  MA is still in phase 1. People over 75 come before me. I went to the web site, followed the insider instructions, got an appointment, and received my first dose last Sunday. Yeah!

The CDC says priority recommendations were made with these goals in mind:

• Decrease death and serious disease as much as possible.
• Preserve functioning of society.
• Reduce the extra burden COVID-19 is having on people already facing disparities.

Makes sense, but then every state, locality, and apparently, pharmacy chain all interpret these priorities differently. I should be delighted, I’m aware of my privilege – white, middle class, insured, great access.  Someone looped me into the pilot and told me how to be successful. but now I have the Equitable Jab Blue

I jumped the line. I got the jab.  I’m getting the vaccine a month or two early. I know I’m only one person. My heart’s in the right place. This feels like a minor inequity. I still have the Equitable Jab Blues.

Many people with all sorts of serious illnesses or living with many people in small spaces or working with people shoulder to shoulder or in service and retail where customers don’t wear masks and keep their distance. They have the Equitable Jab Blues, too.

Once again, this pandemic shines a bright light on thoughtless or non-existing systems for inclusion and equity in medical and public healthcare. The burden of this pandemic disaster falls disproportionately on people who allow me to be safe. We should all have the Equitable Jab Blues

This country is amazing in its creation of the vaccine and awful at getting it people’s arms. We don’t value and support the infrastructure for public health. We wear blinders when it’s not in our faces. We’d rather respond to disasters than prepare for them or prevent them.  I have the Equitable Jab Blues.

For people in recovery from anything that weakens you, the riskiest time is just as you’re feeling better. You want to do too much and suffer a setback. Right now, we can faintly smell better, if your smell works.  We have the Equitable Jab Blues.

Everything’s OK. One foot in front of the other.  Keep wearing the mask, physically distance, wash your hands, get vaccinated when you can. Thanks for listening to my rant. Keep the faith. We have the Equitable Jab Blues.

What a hoot. You just heard a taste of word jazz.  Ever heard of Ken Nordeen?  He was the king of word jazz. Click the link or check the show notes for more.