When I decided to get vaccinated, I couldn’t schedule a timely appointment at the vaccination centers near where I live with my parents in Stonington, Connecticut. I eventually found one timely but it was two hours away in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
Because of what I had been reading and researching of the vaccine’s high efficacy and the idea of having some form of protection from the pandemic as it was claiming and continuing to claim lives and make people sick, I drove.
[Editor’s Note: WORD journalist Marlena Freikas started working on this assignment many weeks ago when COVID-19 predictions and assessments were bleaker than bleak. A lot has changed since she started.]
Virus Updates, May 18, 2021
Wethersfield, Connecticut. An overcast day, the cloudy sky mirrored in the widows paneling the side of the Hartford HealthCare building serving as a vaccination site.
Wethersfield, Connecticut. Signage at the entrance of the Hartford HealthCare building, reminding individuals that this location is operating by appointments only. Pictures by Marlena Freitas
Wethersfield, Connecticut. Along the marked path in the Hartford HealthCare building, signs are posted. Prior to receiving the vaccine, patients are registered as having attended their vaccination appointment, and if needed, their second appointment is booked.
Wethersfield, Connecticut. Inside the vaccination site, an attendant is posted at the entrance taking patients’ temperatures. Past the temperature check point, patients are asked to proceed through the building following the taped path on the floor, and in the event of a line, asked to stand at the circles spaced 6 feet apart.
Wethersfield, Connecticut. Much like the concept of giving a voting sticker after people cast theirballot, stickers are given to individuals after they are vaccinated.
Marlena Freitas can be reached at MARLENA.FREITAS77@myhunter.cuny.edu