In March, I received my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. I spent most of 2020 being extremely careful, as I was pregnant with our second child after a miscarriage the year before. For that reason alone, I was eager for something that would severely limit the effects of the virus. My pro-vaccine exuberance wasn’t shared by all family members or friends, though. Some preferred to wait until more had received it. Others had, or still have, no intention of ever getting the vaccine. In my opinion, these conclusions were and are illogical. As more time passed, I became angry with the type of irritation that one feels when loved ones can make better choices but don’t.

More than a year after the pandemic began, a 40-something member of my immediate family became very sick with COVID-19. While he never had to go to the hospital, he spent almost two weeks struggling with the virus and experiencing a vicious cycle of exhaustion, fever, and memory fog, just to name a few. He is better now but has no desire to relive it.