Yesterday afternoon, Lisa and I went to Walgreens and got our flu shots and COVID boosters. That's our seventh COVID shot, by my count. As I'm going to SMOFCon at the start of December, I wanted to have time for the immunizations to settle in before then.

There's another reason: If Glorious Orange Dictator decides to put RFK Jr. in charge of healthcare (which does seem plausible), he'll surely immediately move to ban all vaccinations of any sort, just like he'll stop water fluoridation and probably every other sort of preventative medicine, and maybe even all medical treatment whatsoever (except for wealthy, powerful people who have sworn to obey Glorious Leader; laws don't apply to them). After all, what's wrong with a bunch of people dying and the average lifespan of Americans plummeting. It's all for the Greater Glory of Trumplandia, right? Bring on the Rapture!

This afternoon, Lisa and I got our flu shots and the new COVID vaccine. It was so new that the local Walgreens only received it this morning, and they'd initially called to tell me that they wouldn't be able to give me a vaccination for which I'd made an appointment because they didn't have it, but then they called me back later to say that we should come in after all.

We were there early for our 4:45 PM appointment, with our paperwork filled out and signed. We checked in and waited. Around 5 PM, someone came with blank versions of the same paperwork that we'd already submitted, but at least in that case someone called him back saying that they already had it. We got our shots (one in each arm) around 5:20, and hung around as they asked for around ten minutes. That was not a problem as we had some shopping to do there anyway.

This is our sixth COVID vaccination. I'm glad they were authorized and distributed now, because I leave for the Chengdu Worldcon on October 14, and this will give the vaccinations time to get to full effectiveness, I hope.

Today, I had another vaccination. Not a COVID-19 vaccination, although in light of Cheryl Morgan reporting that she joined the large number of people who attended Eastercon who caught COVID, I would have been happy to get another booster. Apparently Lisa and I misheard booster information, and once you've that bivalant booster that she and I had six months ago, that's it — you're not eligible for any additional COVID vaccinations, ever. That doesn't seem right to me, and I hope the CDC comes up with a long-term plan that I assume would include at least annual COVID shots just like I get an annual flu shot.

But anyway, I decided, in light of my age and worsening diabetes, to get a pneumonia vaccination. I've not been sick since before the pandemic (some seasonal allergies excepted). As I've said before and will continue to say, I like not being sick and will continue to take precautions to try and avoid getting sick from preventable communicative diseases. If that puts me out of step with people who think vaccinations and masking is like being thrown into a concentration camp, so be it.

Yesterday afternoon, Lisa and went to Walgreens here in Fernley and got the latest COVID-19 booster. We'd had our previous shots at the Safeway pharmacy in Sparks, but their website shows no availability for any date at all, despite their site trying to direct people to make appointments. Maybe they've stopped doing them? There was plenty of availability here in Fernley, which doesn't surprise me, as I expect at least 80% of the people in the area don't believe there ever was such a thing as COVID, and a similar number probably think that vaccines are part of a Sekrit Guv'mint Plot, and so forth.

While the lead pharmacist at Walgreens was wearing a mask, nobody else, including the pharmacy tech who actually administered the shots, was doing so. I'm not surprised. See above.

Walgreens only has the Moderna booster, which is okay. Our previous four doses were Pfizer, and I've been hearing from reputable sources that mixing manufactures is not a bad thing.

They also wanted us to get flu shots, but while we're aware that there's no credible evidence that having both shots at the same time causes ill effects, we'd rather only have one sore shoulder at a time. We will go back in a week or two and get the flu shot once our arms have recovered from yesterday's injections.

As with all of the other vaccinations we've had, so far all we have is a sore shoulder and neck.

I've heard people say, "Are you seriously planning to keep getting these vaccinations every 6 to 12 months forever?" as if it was a Fate Worse than Death. My response is, "I get an annual flu shot because I'm not a idiot."