PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As my wife and I prepare for our second virus shot (due tomorrow, Friday, if the schedule holds), it is important to understand what’s in store for us and every other American, not to mention citizens of the world.

It is this:  Vaccinations will reduce incidence of the virus, not eradicate it.

So, is it worth taking?  For us, the answer is an easy yes.

This came to mind as I read a New York Times article, which said this:

“Ten years ago, a deadly infectious disease killed more than 36,000 Americans.  The next year, it killed more than 12,000.  And over each of the following eight years, the same disease caused be6ween 22,000 and 62,000 deaths.

“That disease is influenza – also known as the flu – and it ranks among the leading causes of deaths in the United States.

“Talking about the effects of a typical flu is somewhat fraught these days.  We are living with the worst pandemic in a century, one that is of a different magnitude from influenza.  In the early months of Covid-19, some people who were trying to deny its severity, including Donald Trump, claimed that it was barely worse than the flu.

“That’s false.

“In the coming months, Covid will probably will recede, as a result of vaccinations and immunity.  But it will not disappear.

“Some people have gotten the idea that we’re going to get to ‘Covid zero.  That’s not realistic.  It’s a fantasy.”

A reasonable goal, the NY Times suggests, is to make the virus manageable, much like the flu.  Fortunately, vaccines are doing that

As the NY Times put it:

“The vaccines will not produce Covid zero.  But they are on pace to produce something that looks like normalcy,” even if, on occasion, anti-vaxxers wax prolific in citing vaccine risks.

So, for my wife and me, we plan to ignore the risks.  bring on the second shot!