Go get the COVID booster ASAP
If you're in the US and have a preexisting condition that makes you eligible for a COVID booster under the CDC's new, more restrictive rules, you should go get the shot this week or next week.
There's been a lot of press over the last few days about RFK's gutting of the Center for Disease Control, and at a meeting in a few weeks, it's likely that he and his allies will make it even harder for people to access the COVID-19 vaccines. If you're eligible, you should get the shot immediately.
I did this yesterday. Funny enough, the radio station I was tuned to in the car played news related specifically to Susan Monarez's firing/the gutting of the CDC at me for the entire ride to and from my shot. We are truly living through "history" right now, and I hate it!
I was amused that the NPR station I was listening to was so sure that these events would lead to more "public debate" about RFK's mission. I don't think that's going to happen and I don't think """public""" debate is the solution to this. I think that people are so miserable and overworked and underpaid right now, and so poorly educated on the value of continual COVID boosters, that it's just going to kind of blow by most people. I think this is the kind of situation that the CDC existed to prevent - in a country with piss-poor public health education and a terrible insurance system that traumatizes or impoverishes most people when they try to seek medical care, I don't think most people are going to have the "correct" reaction to this all on their own. The CDC existed as a backstop to all this.
I was able to get an appointment for a COVID booster 30 minutes after it occurred to me that I should. There were slots for the booster open every 15 minutes all day long. Most people are not rushing to their pharmacies right now. But you can!
I can't write online what I think RFK deserves for this, but if you find me in person and put a beer in my hands, I will be glad to tell you.