Embracing ‘the jab’ a community effort

Panadol for breakfast is something I’ve not experienced for quite a few years.

Without naming quite how many years, suffice to say it’s more reflective of a university lifestyle than a mayoral one.

But last Saturday, paracetamol was my first thought upon dragging myself downstairs from an uncomfortable, cold and achy night of interrupted sleep.

The fact that two Panadol tablets beat my delicious slowly-percolated-black-coffee-with-a-touch-of-local-honey down my oesophagus is an indication of just how keen I was for relief.

Two words. COVID vaccination.

I consider that I was well prepared.

I’d been reading about all the possible side-effects and listening to all the conspiracy theories around the risks of vaccination, including clots or the potential damage to my very individual RNA and how that could come home to roost in my future years.

Judging by the rush on vaccination services, I was not alone in seeing the recent outbreak as the necessary push to do the right thing.

Logistically, the seven-day lockdown also created some available timeslots in the mayoral diary.

I live 35 minutes and 30 kilometres from the Barwon Health Covax Hub at the old Ford factory and I dithered on the eve of lockdown whether to risk a walk-in, or book locally in Ocean Grove.

I chose the latter and couldn’t believe how easy it was. Simply log in, register as a new patient, et voila! A booking appeared for Monday 9.30am.

Fantastic! Too easy, what is all the fuss about?

Then I had a message from my GP advising that I’d actually booked in for a test, not a vaccination. Face palm. One job. What a duffer.

Thankfully, the wait was not insurmountable and I slotted in for the next Friday to receive my jab.

The particular vaccine one receives is the subject of a hilarious YouTube video ‘Meanwhile in Brighton’ which had been the topic of conversation at a board meeting the morning of my appointment and highlighted the ageist slant to the vaxing process.

Age, for women at least, has long been respected as a personal detail that is not for public consumption.

Therefore, it was interesting that on the same day as the Brighton botox conversation, I read about Kate Winslet refusing the offer to edit out the realism of her “bulgy bit of belly” from a scene in Mare of Easttown.

The article in The Guardian discussed how women should be allowed to look as they are, without the pressure of youthful perfection.

It also noted, ‘the very real danger of being thought “past it” in the workplace’.

Specifically, ‘there is a cold hard economic price to be paid for the kind of vicious casual ageism that deems the over-50s too tired and old to learn new tricks’.

More poignantly, and a theme I noted in my recent International Women’s Day speech, ‘the particular sting for women is that anxiety about the professional consequences of getting older often kicks in just as a career derailed by motherhood is starting to get back on track’.

In short, declaring one’s age potentially has a very real cost for women who may not be in secure jobs.

The Brighton video is perhaps allowably funny because the assumption is that these stereotypes are not competing in the workforce.

However, for women who are not so economically secure, it is a valid concern that they will be judged on their age, in addition to the myriad unconscious biases females already face.

Of course, ageism is something that impacts everyone in the employment race, not just women, but having mentored a number of women through career re-entry post-children this phenomenon is typically a mother-specific barrier.

So, perhaps bear good manners in mind and don’t ask ‘which vaccine?’ as people go through the process. Panadol won’t fix the non-physical side effects.

We want to encourage as many people as possible to ‘have the jab’ as it’s becoming clear that having a high percentage of our population vaccinated is the best way to protect our community’s health and avoid future lockdowns.

Thank you to our health providers for the efficiency and professionalism being shown through this enormous task. And well done to everyone embracing the jab, it’s definitely a community effort.