Yesterday I had my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. In Sweden, those who received their first vaccination before June 1 are called within six weeks for their second dose. If you received your first vaccine after June 1, you will be called in seven weeks. The priority right now is to give as many people the first dose before trying to get the second dose to everyone.
Coming from Africa as I do, I take cholera, hepatitis A and B, yellow fever and rabies vaccines if necessary when I travel. I have also previously been vaccinated agains smallpox, polio, and tetanus. Why? I have seen the death and destruction caused by these illnesses in widely unvaccinated areas. People in developed countries often don’t realise the sky-high mortality rates in developing countries from easily preventable diseases or something simply cured like diarrhoea. Something like cholera can wipe out entire communities.
I don’t take the annual flu vaccine but I have taken the COVID-19 vaccine and was very grateful to be given the opportunity. his year a former partner, a school friend and three former colleagues died of COVID-19. They died agonising horrible deaths that I would not wish on anything. They left heartbroken children and families behind them. I don’t wish that on myself or my family. I realise that not all my readers are pro-vaccine. Everyone has the right to have their own stance and I feel that the more of us who are vaccinated, the less danger there is to those who are unable or unwilling to vaccinate.
