The Still Not Dead Files: Happy NY and info about the ‘Rona Vaccine from someone who’s had it.

So first, Happy belated New Year, everyone. I have not had the chance to put thoughts to paper except for a couple hours these last few months, so I’m sorry about that. My next works require a particular mindset to hit the right tone and I have been without the free time to hit those mindsets. Why?

Vaccination season, and Lotto Box events. Exhaustion and grind in equal measure.

But here’s some good news. As of today I owe 2 free chapters on Chaldea Untold, one because I pulled the GSSR draw (Got the Elephant Man) and a self-anointed extra chapter because I got 5 new SR Servants in the span of 2 weeks. Marie and Atalante Alter from the Thanksgiving bombardment Banners, and then the Servant Formerly Known as Prince, and China White Thighs from the 3rd Lostbelt banner… and then I got Paisen with the first ticket I used to try and get Red Hair. I think she was just as surprised as I was. Didn’t get Red Hair though. ;_;

So, with the percentage chance of those 5 SRs with the number of rolls I did (plus some repeat SR Servants for NP levels), I decided it was an equivalent of a SSR. So, I’m going to be busting my hump the next weekend I get. Expect only 1 bonus chapter at a time though.

Now. Vaccines.

I work in a pharmacy. A pharmacy that is going to be taking part in the dispensing of Covid Vaccines. Now, in the pharmacy were all quite surprised when a bunch of employees of the stores in the area showed up and we were suppose to vaccinate them. And while we were doing that, we figured that we should all get vaccinated as well. Why? Because the Vac has a shelf life of 6 hours after being prepared for use. So any doses we didn’t use were going to go bad anyway.

You see, this vaccine uses synthetic RNA sequences to create a fake infection for the body to fights. RNA is the building blocks that DNA is made from, and is much smaller and more fragile. So it has to be kept frozen until use, and even then it’s only got a shelf life of several months, whereas previous vaccines for other diseases last a year or two in refrigeration (most, not all; some need to be frozen). So, when it’s use it or lose it, you use it.

Now, what this means to you; it’s going to be impossible for a few months until another version of the vaccine comes out for you to just walk in off the street and ask for a vaccine. The vaccine is completely unsuited to being dispensed outside of pre-set vaccine clinic events. It has to be prepared, and then used, within time frames. So once the vaccine goes into the general public, you’re gonna want to look up info on the clinics and schedule plenty of time for waiting in line to get stabbed in the arm with a needle.

And on that topic, the needle used for the Rona Vac is a very small gauge. I could hardly feel it on getting poked. So be glad about that. However, the point where I was stabbed was sore and stiff for a couple days afterward as my body worked that site. It’s a known and unavoidable result of the vaccine, so get it in your non-dominant arm, and preferable with a free day afterwards. Because you WILL feel the resulting effect. As I said before, an infection is stimulated in your body by the vaccine, so you will feel like you are “sick” the following day. Low energy, listlessness, desire to sleep, etc. The healthier your immune system, though, the weaker the effects should be. If you’re up there in age, expect to feel a short term (a couple hours or so) of feeling cruddy. It’ll pass quickly (or at least it should.)

And, apparently, that one day of feeling low gives a 95% chance of preventing a Rona infection, according to random shit on the internet. And a 100% chance of avoiding Death By Rona! Which I severely doubt in a world where someone dies from shooting himself in the head and then being diagnosed as a COVID casualty!

Now, for the science of the vaccine, which is super interesting. This is the birth of a widespread Viral Vaccine, people, of high efficacy! A vaccine that simulates the processes of harmful viral lifeforms (smaller than bacteria!) without causing harm and instead causing a positive biologic response from the human body. This is a scientific breakthrough on the same level as penicillin! With this, we can start targetting viral forms and eliminating them. Imagine an Ebola vaccine! Or an HIV vaccine! A Herpes vaccine, because lord knows people aren’t going to stop fucking random strangers and making positive life decisions any time soon!

And this is why I am extremely excited and terrified.

Humans have been practicing biologic warfare since the days they realized dead bodies cause disease, and flung them over the walls of castles they are sieging. Or dropping dead animals into wells to poison them. I can pretty much count the Western Military forces of the world to be too chicken shit to try and weaponize Virus Vaccines for military or terror purposes… but we’ve already seen that China is all in on researching harmful viruses in shit-for-security facilities locations where people who whistle blew “Yes, they were studying COVID for the sake of weaponizing it” were all murdered quickly by the Chinese government, and that terrorist and religious extremists (dunno how extreme it is when your faith literally says, “Murder anyone who does not believe what you do,” since that could be called a Religious Literallist at that point) are willing to do really fucked up shit to harm innocent population groups. And (the government of) China has made a cultural, governmental, and economic priority of stealing as much scientific knowledge as possible from the entire world and then abusing and perverting it for personal gain. So I’m terrified of China, or another short sighted nation, getting RNA vaccination technology, and then reversing the order operations to make something that will intentionally infect people with synthetic viruses.

It’s the “Designer Assassin Virus” we’ve been seeing in Sci-Fi, folks. It’s possible now.

BUT. The expense of doing something like this with technology as we have it… you would need multi-billion dollar labs with the greatest minds in the field and billions of dollars in grants for research and testing before you could get the results that would bring actual population destroying synthetic viruses to the world, and I’m pretty sure jihadists would prefer to keep blowing up their wives and kids with suicide bombs for the budget that would require. China though… I dunno. I get the feeling they’d cut corners and just fuck the whole thing up being such cheapskates that they can’t even pay their janitors enough for them to not sell bats out the back door. So… kinds like now.

So, the technology is both fascinating… and terrifying. Humans are starting to literally play God, and that has never gone well in any fiction I’ve ever seen.

But the big question right now is; Is the vaccine safe?

And I think the answer is a resounding YES. Why? Because we already had another vaccine like this one! The Shingrix vaccine used to prevent Shingles is the technology that this vaccine uses. A synthetic virus that creates a fake infection that is harmless to the host, to others, and results in overwhelming positive results. The Shingrix vaccine had gone through proper approval for use, has been in widespread circulation for several years now, with no adverse effects in the population aside from feeling cruddy for a weekend. So guys, there’s pretty much no chance of the Rona Vac doing you any harm. If you still wanna wait for it to be “proven safe,” go right ahead (and it’s gonna be a bit of time before clinics are set up for people outside nursing homes, anyway), but the science is good for this thing.

And if it isn’t, well I already have my Super Hero name handy for when I mutate. Captain ‘Rona!