(...yeah, that's what she said!)

So I got my first COVID vaccination today - the Pfizer one, the same one everyone in Aotearoa is getting - and Mrs Mayfurr got hers at the same time. I was impressed with how quick and efficient the process was, and after getting the jab (which was surprisingly painless thank goodness) we were both booked in for the second vaccine in August and had an uneventful mandatory waiting period before departing. Apart from the occasional twinge in the arm I was vaccinated in, I've had no side-effects so far, including a distinct lack of newly-acquired super-powers. grin

One of the ironies of having effectively stomped on COVID so hard to the point where our last community cases were several months ago, and our last COVID death was last September is that NZ has been somewhat at the back of the queue for vaccines - which is understandable, as a person in an A&E hospital ward with multiple gunshot wounds is needing treatment more urgently than someone with a sprained ankle. It's good that it's finally happening, of course, especially with the Delta variant lurking around, and both my parents and my father-in-law have already had both their jabs (with no ill effects).

So if you have access to the COVID vaccine in your country, and are medically able to have it, get yourself vaccinated and urge your family and friends to get vaccinated too. Do it for your whanau (family), your tamariki (kids) if you have any, for your country, and for the world. We're only going to get out of this pandemic if everyone does their part.

If you can't get vaccinated for medical reasons or because the vaccine isn't available for your age group yet, urge your family and friends to get vaccinated regardless so that you and others are protected.

If you don't want to get vaccinated because you hate needles, I hear you - I absolutely hate needles, injections and blood samples, and it's been an effort for me over the years to try and get over it. But I found it was no problem getting the Pfizer jab as long as I looked away from the vaccinator, and the actual inoculation was barely noticable - I had to check that they'd actually done it! So face your fear - and get yourself vaccinated.

If you don't want to be vaccinated because you want to acquire antibodies "naturally" - you do realise that you don't get these by osmosis from just standing about, right? You get the antibodies to protect yourself from COVID either from the vaccine, or from catching COVID itself and gambling that it won't kill you! Don't be an Russian roulette-playing egg - get yourself vaccinated.

If you don't want to be vaccinated because you're worried about side effects or long-term effects, well as for the first point there's been literally millions of people globally who've had the vaccines, and any side-effects are relatively minor - certainly better than coming down with COVID. Yes, we know there's little knowledge on multi-year long-term effects of the vaccine, but here's the thing: we're in a global pandemic right now and waiting around for ten years to see what happens is a luxury most of the world doesn't have, what with millions of deaths worldwide in the last eighteen months. Hesitating in these conditions is like being worried about water damage to your heirloom furniture from the fire brigade while your house is burning down. The risk compared to actually getting COVID is worth it - get yourself vaccinated.

And if you don't want to be vaccinated because <insert Bill Gates conspiracy / 5G chips / deep state conspiracy / other conspiracy theory / anti-masking / anti-vaxx justification here>, I'm sorry to say that with all due respect you're being a raging arrogant self-entitled narcissistic fuckwit and are also in effect a pro-disease cheerleader for COVID. You're probably not going to listen to me, but I'll say it anyway: Don't be a fuckwit, rejoin the ranks of the sane, and get yourself vaccinated.

Get vaccinated, and be a legend!