How to Cope with Anxiety If You Have to Wait for Your COVID-19 Shot

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We have been given hope in this dark time with the two vaccines now being distributed. However, the delays in distributing the vaccines have created anxiety of its own. How can you manage the anxiety of having to wait? It is little consolation to know the vaccine is coming and you will be vaccinated when right now, it is not yet your turn.

Here are four things you can do to help yourself cope with the anxiety of waiting:

  1. You can talk with others you know are waiting and hear how they are coping with the wait. Just having the awareness that you are not alone in the uncertainty of not knowing when you will receive the vaccine can be helpful. Share your thoughts and feelings with your group so that you collectively come up with different ways to think about the wait you are enduring. Work towards creating a solidarity with others so you can manage the anxiety that comes up.

  2. Keep yourself informed about distribution so you can track how many people are getting vaccinated in your area and what the production numbers are so that you can know some things about when the numbers are elevating. By having information, we can ameliorate some of the anxiety of the wait. Keep yourself informed by following reports issued by the CDC (center for Disease Control) to keep you up to date with new information.

  3. Sit down and write down what you are grateful for as you are waiting. Things like how you have stayed safe up to this point in the pandemic. The actions you have taken to keep a distance from others outside your household, possibly worked from home, limited contact with others and kept yourself active by taking walks, running, worked out at home, etc. 

  4. Acknowledge to yourself that you have stayed safe and that you can continue to be safe as you wait for your opportunity to get vaccinated. You have taken all the necessary steps and they have worked to keep you safe and healthy for almost a full year now. You have done an excellent job of being safe and protecting others.

There are few things in life that are guaranteed and getting a shot is one you can count on getting. It is a matter of “when” rather than, “if” you will get the vaccine. Keep your focus on not just where you are now but where you want to be. Imagine the way you will feel when you are vaccinated and the relief you will experience. It will be a big step toward the life you and all of us want to have again. There are many other steps and changes that need to happen to get back to many of the ways of living life similar to what we did pre-COVID-19.

Even in the isolation we are all in at this time it is good to know that we have many scientists, technicians, laboratories, companies of various types all working toward producing and distributing the vaccine that will help keep us safe. Be looking forward and keep an eye ahead to the outcome we all desire and notice all you have done to make it to this point in the difficult last year.