Giving artists hope

I work in disability services full-time so was able to access a specific clinic dedicated to vaccinating those who work with vulnerable and at risk people.
I had an awesome bunch of nurses indulging my love of taking photos and documenting activities in my life.
I’m also a musician (in Greek band OMADOS) so my work in the arts was put to a devastating halt with COVID.
The prospect of opening up and the increasing rates of vaccination is giving artists hope again.

Kitty San Pedro

Ambivalence

Today while at the doctors, I observed a very apprehensive lady going in for the COVID injection. Her husband who seemed to be a decade older than her was cajoling her:
-Άιντε μπες μέσα, τελείωνε, δεν παθαίνεις τίποτε.
– Άφησε με ήσυχη, δεν θέλω να ακούω τις σαχλαμάρες σου τώρα.
Once they emerged, he turns to her and says:
-Τώρα θα δούμε αν θα σου φυτρώσει καμιά ουρά.
-Να δούμε αν θα σου φυτρώσει εσένα καμία πούτσα, she replies.
I got talking to them and discovered she had reservations about the jab.
The interplay between them was priceless.

Dean Kalimniou

READ MORE: A reader’s experience: The Pfizer vax, a lollipop and some fun to ease the tension

Vaccinated v Unvaccinated, 1-0

Mary Sinanidis hopes to travel to Greece again and hoped this would be a small prick forward. Photo: Supplied

“Mary, thank you for getting your COVID-19 vaccination – you are playing an important role in protecting our community,” said the text message following the jab.
I wondered whether I’m really saving anyone in my community by walking around vaccinated, because, to be honest, I’d always been lukewarm about the vaccination drive, especially the handling of it.
“Anti-vaxxer,” a colleague said, trying to pigeon hole me, but “πουλημένη” (sold out) said a reader when I questioned the validity of his claims on the polar opposite side of the debate.
Truth is, I could not relate to any of the extreme radical voices in the vaccinated v unvaccinated debacle, both so absolute in their stance.
So I lived in a neutral place, and waited to see what would happen in Sweden where the ‘let’s just get on with life’ mentality prevailed and people live as though there were no pandemic.
My denial stopped when I saw Sweden’s 14,781 deaths compared to Australia’s 1,278 – Australia’s lower number has come at a high price, with lockdowns and economic loss. But you can’t put a price tag on the loss of a loved one.
So I lifted my sleeve like that “We can do it!” woman in the WWII propaganda poster by J Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric – and joined in the queue at the Convention Centre so we can just get on with life, like the Swedes, but with hopefully less deaths.
Did I do the right thing? Ask me ten years from now.

Mary Sinanidis

 

Did you get the jab? Share your experience with us. Email photos and text to mary@neoskosmos.com.au