Mtraveling to the United States with two young children during a pandemic was a feat that I never thought possible. My husband had received a prestigious scholarship at the Mayo Clinic, an opportunity too good to be left out. It took months of mental anguish and preparation in front of Covid-19 to make the trip of a lifetime, cross the seas to a new country and establish a new life, away from home.
It has been a challenge to live in a country where Covid is on fire like a fire. Our children got used to putting “alcohol” in their hands when we went out shopping and masks became a daily lifestyle.
I recently decided to send my eldest son to school. The entire class, including their teacher, wears a mask. It was a decision that I took for a long time, weighing the risks and the benefits. Still, when his eyes lit up when he first entered the classroom a few weeks ago and he came home excited to tell me about his day, I knew I had made the right decision.
Covid-19 has changed all of our lives in many ways.
I don’t want to live in fear, but I check the case statistics every day almost religiously, in the hope that the numbers will drop. Although restaurants and gyms are open and life has returned to normal, it is still difficult for me to trust that the person sitting next to me in a restaurant does not have Covid-19.
We spend most days indoors, except for walks when the weather permits, enjoying the snow on our faces. However, I am hopeful that this life of semi-locking will not last forever.
I learned to accept that social distance is a way of life for us now. It is a stark contrast to the strict but necessary blocking measures placed in Australia each time a cluster appears. Here it seems that life goes on and Covid-19 is always there in the background.
The Covid-19 vaccine offers me a glimpse of hope. I can’t wait to line up for my shot. When my husband received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, I cried tears of relief, then jumped for joy and danced with my children.
I am relieved that after receiving the second dose, my husband now has a 95% chance of not developing symptomatic disease. I know that there is still a risk and that we must continue to practice social detachment, wear a mask and that it will be a long time before we leave without a mask. However, it offers me hope of that possibility one day.
Like many of my American friends here, I would like the vaccine to be launched faster. Like my husband, I also want to be vaccinated.
The launch was limited by a number of factors, including large-scale vaccine transport and distribution. Distribution has been largely limited to hospitals and local health departments, and individual states appear to define when and where you can access the vaccine.
Vaccines have just been distributed to pharmacies. I made an appointment with a primary care physician recently to discuss when and if I could get access to the vaccine, but I was informed that primary care clinics are not yet administering it.
Certainly, the Biden administration appears to be implementing it as quickly as it is humanly possible, with about 1.5 million doses being administered per day. Still, with a population of over 330 million, it will take many more months for the United States to achieve some form of collective immunity.
As a pediatrician, I know very well about the importance of vaccines and I will certainly be the first in line when it is my turn to roll up my sleeves. I know that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines offered here in the United States have gone through a rigorous safety approval process by the Food and Drug Administration and I trust the process.
As I watch my fellow Melbourneians immersed in another block, I feel their pain.
Should we vaccinate international arrivals at the airport to contain the spread? How quickly can we distribute this vaccine?
Australia needs to consider establishing mass vaccination in sports arenas early to allow people more immediate access to the vaccine. The administration of the vaccine should not be limited to nurses and doctors, but extended to pharmacists, doctors and other health students, as well as defense forces. A level system is important, but we need to get this vaccine to as many Australians as soon as possible. Do we have a centralized text messaging service to let people know when and where to get vaccinated? Do we allow visits to ensure that no bottles are wasted?
Society relies on all or most of us to participate in obtaining some level of collective immunity. It is imperative that we think well and quickly as a society, because this virus is moving and mutating at a speed that we cannot control. We can, however, control our behavior. We can choose to have this vaccine. And we can choose to have hope.
• Dr. Sarah Arachchi is a pediatrician from Melbourne, currently based in the USA