To the editor:

Barbara and I got our second Covid vaccine, a reason for relief and to celebrate!

Thanks to Dr. Gene Burns and his associates at Riverside Remedies in Callicoon, the day-long vaccination event, at the Delaware Youth Center, went off like clockwork. Super-organized. We were there for about 30 minutes, including the 15 minutes mandatory wait after vaccination to be sure there were no serious reactions.

My physical reaction was the predicted loginess and slight fever; my psychological reaction was much deeper: ecstatic that we completed the shots, and thankful for the miracle of science.

For me, there is a genuine sense of wonder and relief. A scientific miracle of a vaccine was developed in less than a year; its creation will avoid much of the disastrous death and illness of the 1918 flu pandemic.

The thirty or so volunteers included a doctor, three nurses from Garnet's Harris campus, and many nice young folks checking paperwork, registering recipients and answering questions. The doctor and nurses asked if we had questions and explained how we would probably feel; all involved lent a welcomed feeling of confidence and competence.

All total, Gene and his associates administered more than 500 shots from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. What a wonderful, uplifting day!

But my relief is tempered by this thought: In just a few days, after the vaccine permeates my body, I will be nearly 100 percent immune to a terrible disease that has killed more than a half million of my brothers and sisters and permanently scarred — physically and in psyche — millions of my fellow humans. So who am I to feel privileged, to celebrate, when so many have passed, so many suffer still, so many ashes and so many dreams have been scattered by the wind.

As of the end of February, just 23,000,000 Americans have received both covid vaccine inoculations. That's only 7 percent of our citizens that are fully protected from this deadly virus.

Covid-19 and creation of vaccines has been the cruel agony — and now the hopeful ecstasy — of our collective experience with this disease, an experience that history will record.