THERE’S a lot of pent up emotion out there.
The very fact of getting the jag (where did jab come from?) has given people that much needed and elusive gift of hope. People are positively tearful at their elderly relations getting to the front of the queue.
It’s all indicative of just how much of our lives has been put on involuntary hold.
“Light at the end of the tunnel” has replaced “unprecedented” as the cliché of choice all over the airwaves, and holiday companies report that the over 50s have been booking that much-longed-for break for the end of summer and autumn.
READ MORE: 'Let us look forward' - thousands receive Covid vaccinations in Helensburgh and Lomond
The other side of this coin is health service workers literally at the end of a tether which has been stretched beyond endurance, as they daily face more death and serious illness than they might normally encounter over a few months.
It’s exhausting in every which way, and they will be paying a penalty both physically and mentally when we finally emerge from this global nightmare.
And the ugly side of this coin are those appalling people spreading utterly unfounded conspiracy theories and rumours about the effect of the vaccine. People whose level of ignorance is matched only by a failure of imagination to consider the havoc their online imbibed nonsense might cause to the rest of the population. And themselves.
The latest figures for people refusing to be inoculated suggests that as many as a third of the refuseniks might be involved in social care in nursing homes and the community.
READ MORE: Letters: 'Disregard fake news, get the vaccine, protect our NHS'
Some people have described it as an ethical dilemma, wondering if you could force people into a course of medical action of which they are fearful.
There is no dilemma in my book. Because this is an area where the decision is not merely a personal one, affecting only personal circumstances.
We are all too aware of how quickly this virus can spread in tight communities like nursing homes. Staff going in and out can put at risk the very patients and residents for whom they are being paid to care.
So get vaccinated guys. Or consider a change of employment.
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