a Note From the Editor

Last week, the Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) sent me an email that said it was my turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine as an EMT. As easy as ordering take-out, I had an appointment for December 29th at Stamford Hospital. Many asked what my experience was.

…

I didn’t feel the shot, I truthfully didn’t even know it was administered until the bandaid was pulling at my skin. It was unceremonious, quick. I walked out of the small makeshift room into the observation area where a scene of the pandemic crisis was burned into my mind.

Doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff sat in small chairs in this hallway with “I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine” stickers on their lapels and tears slowly absorbing into the edges of their masks. I sat at the end of the hallway with them as they cried, called their children, Facetimed their spouses, hugged and clapped as one-after-another received the new Pfizer vaccine. This was the beginning to their victory in surviving the pandemic as a frontline worker. They made it out alive. They survived.

So there we all sat. The newly vaccinated hospital staff resembled a family celebrating the birth of a child - everyone filled with joy and hope - everyone celebrating the birth of a hopeful future - sitting on those chairs in the middle of the hallway - taking selfies, crying, hugging, laughing, celebrating the hope that they felt under the bandaid on their arms.

And there I was, feeling so small, and so grateful, sitting there on my chair at the end of the hallway.

This is their light at the end of the tunnel. This is their hope. This was my experience.

Jaime Bairaktaris