“I believe this is likely the most significant medical advance in the last 100 years…”
—CEO of Pfizer, Dr. Albert Bourla
“It could be the beginning of the end of the Covid era.”
—Dr. Ugur Sahn, CEO of BioNTech
We never thought we’d be so grateful to get a "shot in the arm,” so to speak. Thanks to the genius of Dr. Ugur Sahin and his wife Dr. Ozlem Tureci co-founders of a small German biotechnology startup BioNTech, who teamed up with premier pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Project Lightspeed, my wife Cecile and I were able to have the first of two COVID-19 vaccine injections at Kaiser Permanente medical office building across from the hospital in San Jose.
The vaccine was found to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing the disease in clinical trials in those volunteers who had no evidence of previously being infected. Though there is always a possibility of side effects, after four hours since our inoculation neither of us have had any symptoms. Our second shot has been scheduled for two weeks from today.
The hardest part of getting the vaccine was the over four-hour wait on speakerphone for Kaiser to accommodate us as part of the priority 65 and older group. But, if the pandemic has taught us anything it's that patience is indeed a virtue. Other than that the staff at Kaiser were efficient, created a safe environment for us to be vaccinated, and we were seen very quickly. We were asked to self-monitor for any adverse effects for 15 minutes before leaving the facility. In our mind, though we did our best to roll with the punches after the pandemic took hold of our country and around the world. The vaccines are the first step in bringing back a sense of normalcy. Though the ride back was rainy and cloudy, for the first time since the pandemic began we felt there was light at the end of the tunnel.
Alert: It is important to note that the protection that the vaccine offers does not kick in until some weeks later. Check with your doctor.
