When the medical director of my unit called me two days ago to tell me I could schedule my COVID-19 vaccine, I hung up the phone and cried. While I am fortunate to not have witnessed the overwhelming horrors my adult colleagues have, we in pediatrics are certainly no strangers to the daily suffering that COVID-19 has brought to the healthcare environment: learning to recognize and aggressively treat a new pediatric inflammatory illness (MIS-C), treating adult patients for the first time in many years, and filling our beds with the tragic secondary epidemic of adolescents reaching their breaking point with anxiety and depression. At home,I anxiously refresh the COVID tracking websites, wondering if there will be enough staff or ventilators when I report to work the next day and worrying about my own chronically ill family members being denied a hospital bed if they were to seek care. Today, my anxiety lightens as I marvel at this vaccine and the hope that it breeds. While there are many skeptics who claim it is rushed or has questionable safety, I proudly rolled down my sleeve without hesitancy for a vaccine that I know is safe and effective. How do I know? Because I, like countless of my colleagues, have been following the development of this vaccine from day one. We have read all the papers, scoured all the data, read countless opinion pieces and listened to innumerable interviews from respected experts in the field. The healthcare community has overwhelmingly endorsed this vaccine not just with words, but with their actions as hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers line up to receive this vaccine over the coming days and weeks. This vaccine is not rushed. It is a stunning show of what can happen when the forces of science and industry combine and bureaucratic roadblocks are lifted. It is human ingenuity and perseverance distilled into a tiny 5ml bottle. I hope that when the time comes to roll up your sleeve, that you do so to protect yourself, your family, and your fellow citizens.
