Let the COVID Vaccine Transform You

Source: 'Torsten Simon from Pixabay'

Like many people, I became unexpectedly emotional when I received the COVID vaccine.

I’d been chatting with the women next to me in the long line snaking toward the entrance to the arena where the vaccines were being administered, feeling nothing much except hope that the line would move quickly. Once I entered the arena, however, I became increasingly aware of the spectacular choreography of the process. Every step of the way there were volunteers to guide us, squirt a dollop of sanitizer in our hands, check us in, and lead us efficiently toward the nurses who would be giving us our shot, and then to the waiting area where we’d remain for 15 minutes to ensure we had no adverse reaction.

As I approached the nurse who would be administering my shot, tears filled my eyes, and by the time I reached the chair by her table, I was weeping. “I didn’t expect to cry,” I said, as she reassured me that she’d cried, too.

“This is historic,” she added, gently stroking my arm and handing me a box of tissues. Indeed.

When almost half of Europe’s population died of the plague in the 14th century, there were no vaccines to come to the rescue. Nor were there vaccines six centuries later to prevent the spread of the 1918 influenza pandemic, which infected one-third of the global population, killing 1-6% of all people on Earth in two years.

The nurse’s term “historic” was apt. The speed at which several highly effective, nearly side-effect-free vaccines have been developed is unprecedented.

I found myself reflecting upon this historic moment, realizing its potential to transform our thinking and our actions, and, through these, the world. Despite all that is still wrong in terms of injustice, environmental destruction, and persistent cruelty to animals across our everyday systems, there is much that is right. And what is right was on full display as I received the vaccine.

• In record time, scientists and lab workers came together and, with the promise of government-funded purchases, produced safe, highly-effective vaccines.
• More than 100,000 people volunteered to test these vaccines to ensure their efficacy and safety.
• Production was ramped up on all the necessary components of the vaccines as well as the products to administer them, from syringes and needles, to alcohol swabs, to masks, and much more.
• Website developers and engineers created interfaces to coordinate a massive vaccination undertaking.
• Volunteers came forward to support efficiency and speed while providing checks on human error.
• The U.S. committed billions of dollars to help ensure that people in lower-income countries would be vaccinated as well.
• And teachers, all the teachers! Let us please sing their praises! They have educated those involved in every step of these processes so that when it was necessary to come together quickly and powerfully, we were able to do so.

Can we pause to experience gratitude for all these people, all this collaboration, and all this tireless work? Can we mark this historic moment with the appreciation and wonder it deserves? Can we let ourselves be transformed, even just a bit, and deeply embrace what’s possible when compassion and commitment converge?

It’s true that there are many problems that exist alongside this remarkable success:

• We’ve left many of the most vulnerable in the world to be vaccinated last, and we continue to vaccinate inequitably within our own borders.
• We have not stopped the cruelty toward and consumption of wild animals — and the resultant “wet markets” — that have caused other deadly coronaviruses and remain one of the suspected causes of COVID-19. Nor have we ended the horrific and unsanitary confinement of farmed animals, which has led to several dangerous flu outbreaks. Until we end these atrocious systems, we will likely face future preventable pandemics.
• We’ve confined, experimented on, and killed so many animals in the process of developing and testing the vaccines, including our primate cousins — monkeys.
• Ever more disposable trash — those syringes, needles, alcohol wipes, masks, etc. — have been thrown out and incinerated causing ever more pollution.

These problems must be addressed; they are serious and important. Yet, if the rapid rollout of COVID vaccines teaches us anything, it is that when we come together with a common purpose to achieve a clear and pressing goal, we can and do harness the very best in our humanity and are able to address the challenges we face.

As we begin to exhale in the coming months and look ahead to a post-pandemic world, let’s be inspired by our achievements and ask ourselves how we might be increasingly solutionary in the years ahead. In doing so, we can:

• Focus on preventing the next pandemic by addressing the causes of this one and changing the animal-based food systems that are dangerous to ourselves, cruel to other species, and destructive to the environment.
• Root out the inequities that have not only led to disproportionate deaths in the U.S. among BIPOC, but that also continue to perpetuate injustice in our legal, political, housing, economic, healthcare, food, and other systems.
• Transform the educational system not only so that it is equitable, but also so that preparing students to be solutionaries becomes the very purpose of education. This may be the most important takeaway from the pandemic, because helping teachers educate the solutionary generation is the most strategic and powerful step we can take if our goal is a thriving future for all life.

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I asked the nurse who administered my COVID vaccine her name. She replied, “Dawn.” The metaphor wasn’t lost on me. While I may be stretching that metaphor a bit, I hope that as you receive your COVID vaccine, you’ll consider how you can participate as fully as possible in the dawn of a solutionary age.