Ash received his vaccination first dose yesterday. While we took Astrazeneca, he got Pfizer, which was available only for locals and health workers and govt staff when we applied. Now that Oxford vaccine is facing a shortage in India itself, where it is being manufactured, it is not offered any more except for those eligible for their second dose.
China's vaccine Sinopharm is offered nationwide while Dubai and now Abu Dhabi offer Pfizer. Half the population have got their jabs but we are not letting our guard or our masks down.
Indeed, one feels lucky to be here than in India where superstition, bad governance and gov apathy has resulted in a national crisis so severe that we do not know when the country will recover from it. Mutants after mutants of the coronavirus is wreaking havoc across the country while wrong priorities of the Centre make citizens scapegoats. No oxygen, no vaccine and heart rending scenes from crematoriums and hospitals fill newspapers and newsfeeds on social media.
Ash feels fine save for some pain in the arm. His next dose is after 20 days. Glad I could prod V to apply for our eligible over-16. Considering how he almost forced me to abandon a Kenya trip in 2012 because he worried about Ash taking the yellow fever vaccination (and when he did, he was perfectly fine), it is a miracle that he agreed without too much delay. But then times are different and COVID gives us a do or die choice.
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