Being fully vaccinated ‘makes you a little bit more comfortable in your skin’, says 61-year-old Elize Parker. (David Harrison/M&G)
Elize Parker, 61, who was one of the first people to register for a Covid-19 vaccine in April is now among the more than 2.3-million people in South Africa who have been fully inoculated so far.
Being fully vaccinated, however, is not a ticket to total freedom; rather, it comes with obligations to help to protect the whole population against the virus.
“It is your ticket to responsibility,” says Parker, noting that even after a person has received their jab, they are still in a “transferable mode” and can transmit Covid-19.
The Mail & Guardian followed Parker’s journey, first her frustrating run-and-wait game, and then she took matters into her own hands by jumping the queue to finally receive her first Covid-19 shot in May.
Getting her second Pfizer shot pretty much followed the same script, except this time Parker had to shoulder a large part of the blame, thanks to the small matter of a missing vaccination card.
About a month after her first injection, an SMS notified Parker that she could queue at the Clicks pharmacy in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, which would save her a good 20km from her previous experience, when she drove to Karl Bremer Hospital for her first dose.
After waiting four hours in a queue at the pharmacy Parker finally made it to the front only to hear that the second dose could not be administered without her vaccination card. As she did not remember receiving such a card after her first jab, the only solution was for Parker to drive back to Karl Bremer and hope the nurses remembered her.
“I rushed along the highway. I got to Karl Bremer just in time — before three o’clock when they closed — and they were very accommodating and the sisters remembered me,” Parker said, crediting in large part, a milk tart she had brought the health workers the first time around.
Parker was told she had indeed been given a vaccination card the first time, and eventually found it after rifling through her purse and ID book. What really saved her bacon was remembering her vaccination number, which she encourages everyone who has been inoculated to do.
“I could have prevented so much trouble for myself, but the thing is, on the day that you get your jab, your head goes into a little crazy spin,” a sheepish Parker said.
For Parker, the Covid‑19 pandemic has offered up many challenges, from giving up her news reading job to the empty void that the initial hard lockdown created in her personal life.
“For a single person recently out of a long relationship, Covid-19 took its toll as isolation became a way of life. I had to contend with a new way of being single — without being lonely,” she said.
“Tinder, online dating and pandemics do not go hand in hand. I was very much in the mood to phone old loves and make up — but could resist that!”
Being fully vaccinated “makes you a little bit more comfortable in your skin”, she says:
“For 18 months we were unable to do so many things, now I just have this little bit of comfort in my heart. There are two to three things that I’m able to do now, and I’m looking forward to that.”
“I’d love to have a romantic date,” she adds, with a smile.
Keeping it outdoors — and Covid-19 friendly — she would like to go for a long walk on the beach and experience the sunrise with a cup of coffee and someone beside her.
Now that she’s vaccinated, Parker may very well experience such a romantic walk with a new sun rising on the horizon — a symbol of hope that everyone has waited for since the beginning of the pandemic.
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