Third covid-19 vaccine shot

Last Thursday, the Israeli government decided that in view of the rising number (again) of covid-19 infections, citizens over the age of 60 should have a third vaccine shot. As opposed to the first and second shots, this one is supposed to be effective immediately, multiplying the number of antibodies by at least five.

Some clinics started giving the vaccines on Saturday evening; on Sunday I booked our shots for Wednesday morning. I've now had the shot and I can feel the antibodies increasing as I type this (I jest). For some reason, my son seems to have joined the anti-vaccine group and queries why we had the shots 'without thinking'. It's still the same vaccine, and as nothing untoward happened as a result of having the first and second shots at the beginning of the year, there is no reason to suspect that something will happen now.

My current lifestyle makes getting infected an unlikely proposition, although my wife does go out more and of course she is in close contact with me. I'm still working at home and intend to carry on doing so unless 'ordered' to return to the office (I popped in for a few minutes the other day to print something and saw that nothing has yet been done with regard to erecting full walls around my workspace, so that won't act as a catalyst for my return). Apparently there is some possibility of yet another lock-down which will not affect me very much.

Yesterday was my 65th birthday! I can now travel on public transport for half price, provided that I get a new travel card. I had to retire my original travel card some years ago as several machines at the exits to railway stations had problems reading it; I then obtained an 'anonymous' card which has given me no problems. But my age (or something similar) has to be imprinted into the card so that it will 'know' that I am entitled to travel half price. Actually I won't be the primary recipient of the discount as I rarely travel for myself; 99% of my rail journeys are for work (I get refunded for tickets), and I've travelled only three times in the past 16 months.

The 'adrenal vein sampling' test will take place on Sunday, four days hence.