#peacecorpsresponse

261 elephants: How Peace Corps unexpectedly made a dream come true

Friendship rising in the Golden Land

“My journey throughout Peace Corps Myanmar has been short but sweet.” 

Hey to all my people!

It's been a little more than a month so I thought it would be fitting to do an update on the Peace Corps/FEMA position that I've been doing. The official title is a Community Vaccination Center Mission Support Volunteer, which is a mouthful. Essentially, we help fill the non-clinical positions at a vaccination site. I am NOT administering vaccines. There are: Greeters, Registration workers, Scribes, and various traffic positions. Although when we were in Ocean City, one of our lovely volunteers created a new position where we did more outreach. Meaning, we stood on the sidewalk and held up a sign that read "COVID SHOTS FREE" to try to bring in business. It was actually really fun! We started to keep count of how many waves, thumbs up, honks, middle fingers, and miscellaneous rude reactions we got. An overwhelming majority of the reactions from the passing cars were positive, but the negative ones struck a little deeper.

Anyway, most everyone in our group has been cross trained to do every position except Greeter. There are about 4 of us who have been trained as Greeters. I am one of the four and take it as a promotion of sorts? Greeters essentially screen each person with a temperature check and a list of questions to determine if this person has had a high chance of contracting Covid in the last 14 days. Examples of questions that are listed are: have you experienced any Covid symptoms in the past 14 days, or have you traveled to any Covid hotspots in the past 14 days?

In total there are 10 Peace Corps teams in Maryland. I am a member of Team 1(the best one) and there are 7 members on our team. I believe most teams in Maryland also have 7 members. There are two Peace Corps groups that work at our MVU(mobile vaccination unit). Us and Team Two. Currently, FEMA is preparing to end their mission in Maryland so at least 2 other teams have been moved to outreach to help increase the numbers of people coming to our MVU.

There are some days where we have vaccinated over a hundred people(typically clinics that are majority 2nd dose of Moderna have higher numbers), but there are also days where we struggle to reach 20 or less people. And I think we overwhelming experience the latter. Which is good, because that's still 20 or so people who are now vaccinated or partially vaccinated. But 20 or less people in an 8 hour day can be trying sometimes. But, my absolute favorite part is when families come to the MVU and the kids draw with chalk on the ground while their parents get vaccinated. It's so precious to see the drawings that the kids are able to create! So it's possible I'll be headed back home late July.

One struggle I've had is Covid testing. We were originally told we would be required to get tested for Covid weekly. Unfortunately, that hasn't come to fruition. So, being the nervous Nelly that I can be, I have been getting tested weekly at mainly CVSs, but this week I went to an urgent care. My brother thinks I'm obsessed with getting Covid tests, but weekly negative tests provide me with peace of mind that at the time of the test I FOR SURE did not have Covid(and even if I am obsessed with Covid tests, is it bad considering we're in a pandemic?).

And to add to that: we interact with people everyday who haven't been vaccinated, a MVU requires a lot of staff which increases the likelihood of getting Covid, and lastly we're hotel bouncing. So daily we have a ton of interactions with various people, and I say all of that to say I believe that getting tested weekly is in my best interest. So if you're still anxious about Covid, you're not alone.

Overall, I've really been enjoying this assignment! Traveling to different communities each week and meeting so many people has been lovely. Hotel living has been as good as it can be, but it's not nearly on the same level as having more stable housing. Even simple tasks like grocery shopping and doing laundry varies from place to place. Sometimes, we're lucky and have laundry services in our hotel and a grocery store within walking distance. Other times, we're not so lucky. Right now though, I love where we're at! We have laundry services at the hotel and are walking distance away from any type of food you could imagine. Needless to say, I've been eating out a ton lately.

The variety of food options is truly a representation of how diverse this area is. The diversity has been something I have greatly appreciated about Maryland, and specifically where we're currently placed. Being from a state with a majority White population and little diversity amoungst Black and Brown people, I honestly never knew that communities this diverse existed. Diversity certainly has been added as a requirement for wherever I decide to settle down and plant my roots.

Thanks so much for following so far! I'd like to answer a common question I get pertaining to the vaccination clinic for all my people not vaccinated/still on the fence about the vaccines.

1. Which vaccine is better?

I get this question a ton and it's certainly a question that I googled before I got my vaccine, so I totally get it. All of the vaccines are effective! At our clinics we mostly give out Moderna and Johnson & Johnson(Janssen). So it's mainly just a question of if the client wants to come back for a second shot in 28 days(Moderna) or get one shot on that day and be done(Johnson & Johnson).

Pfizer and Moderna have higher efficacy numbers, that's true. But that is due to so many things like how the research for each of the vaccines were searching for different outcomes in their results. It's actually extremely difficult to compare the vaccines. But if the efficacy numbers deter you from a specific vaccine, I recommend you take whichever one you feel comfortable taking. The goal is to vaccinate as many people as possible. The sooner people get vaccinated the better.

In the research that I did before getting my vaccine (Johnson & Johnson) the experts were saying to just take the vaccine that is available to you.

I totally understand the apprehension and distrust of the vaccines and the government, in some ways I'm in the same boat. But these vaccines are safe. Of course, everyone responds differently to the vaccines and if you're worried talk to your primary care physician to determine which one is best for you. And if you don't have a primary care physician, I feel confident that at most vaccination clinics there is a clinician who can help you decide.

But just to repeat myself, the vaccines are safe. All of them.

Honestly, from the bottom of my heart thank you for following along with my seemingly endless thoughts. I appreciate the love and support so much. Feel free to reach out to me! I would love to hear from you!

Much love,