I like the serious Google reviews of vaccination sites

The first person I knew personally and who received their COVID-19 vaccine was my grandmother, and the news that a shot was officially in her arm was the best thing I heard since the pandemic began. Since then, more and more of my family and friends (and their families) have been vaccinated, and the shock of happiness is just as exciting.

I also get emotional hearing about people I don’t know. Turns out I’m a big softie when it comes to people being protected from a deadly disease! Social media is full of selfies after the jab that will make me tear up a bit during the work day. And this week, my amazing collaborator Kait Sanchez pointed me in the direction of another way to enjoy the joys of the newly vaccinated: the Google reviews of COVID-19 vaccination sites.

Usually I am appropriately skeptical when I read any online reviews because it is very subjective and usually only by people whose experiences have been very good or very bad. But I’m throwing it out the window by the latest reviews from the Javits Center in New York City, which I think is now a happy place for people with vaccination appointments. It’s ‘so impressive’, wrote one who has now been immunized. Someone who took their mother to an appointment wrote that ‘the service we received was wonderful’.

People in Arizona are excited to get their shots at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. I’m so happy for Ken, who said he was ‘halfway to amazing’ after getting his first dose of vaccine.

Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts usually houses the New England Patriots and New England Revolution, but these days it’s the same. a five-star rated mass vaccination site for the state. Sandi is vaccinated there and says it is a wonderful experience and writes: ‘You are inside and out within 30 minutes, but of course you have to take pictures!’ – and attach the photos to it.

I’m not sure what impulse forced people to review COVID-19 vaccination sites, but I’m grateful for whatever it is. They made my day.