I finally got a shingles shot. I hope there's no hail in the next week or I'll have to get another.
Ha ha! You know, because, shingles? OK, sorry. And yes, if you're saying, "You actually have to get two shingles shots for full immunity," you're correct. I am slated to get repoked in July, along with my monkeypox vaccine.
Then again, maybe I won't double up on the shots. I got my COVID booster (the 16th, I think; my vaccine card folds out like a road map) the same day I got the shingles vaccine, and the two did not agree. A friend did the same and said he felt like a bus hit him, but I don't think that's accurate.
A bus hits you, you don't feel anything at all after the initial surprise.
I felt more like a punching bag used by a professional boxer who just learned that his alimony payments were increasing. Not a lot. Say, 10%.
Hold on, you say. Monkeypox vaccine? Is there monkeypox loose in the land?
Yes. If you haven't heard, we have a confirmed case of monkeypox, aka chimp blisters, in the United States. (At least as of this writing. By the time this hits the paper they'll probably be dynamiting bridges in Manhattan and welding people into their homes.) USA Today says it's "from the same family of viruses as smallpox," which makes you wonder: Is it smallpox's brother? Uncle? Third cousin? Are they on speaking terms? Do they exchange cards at Christmas? If monkeypox is smallpox's child, is smallpox disappointed because it's less lethal? "These kids today, they just don't have the same initiative."
The symptoms, as you might expect, consist of "feeling poorly." Fever. Chills. Weariness. Headaches. Muscle pangs. Like the flu, or COVID, or a cold — except within 24 hours you are breaking into a Cub at 3 a.m. for bananas.