I’m something of an oddity: a person who has caught coronavirus twice. I’ve had it vaccinated and unvaccinated. My experience offers a cautionary tale for the anti-vaxxers who have been marching through the streets of the world’s biggest cities and protesting in its smallest towns. It was last Christmas in London when I first met Covid. Lockdowns had become a half-hearted exercise and clapping for health-care workers a distant memory. I had assumed the virus would eventually find me, especially since my husband worked at a school teeming with kids who were subject to few safety measures. What I didn’t expect was that I would get it again just seven months later—and only weeks after receiving my second AstraZeneca shot. The July illness proved far different than my Yuletide surprise. During that first bout, the symptoms started pretty much as expected: a dry cough and a lost sense of taste and smell. Within days, the illness resembled the flu, with added nasty extras. My husband, who also was hit, said that each of his internal organs felt like it was being stabbed. I was convinced that a small invisible monster had taken hold of my chest.  A dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine. Photographer: Andre Malerba/Bloomberg What made those early days far more frightening was the uncertainty, especially since people our age—we had both just turned 50—were among the dying. In our corner of northeast London, sirens rang through the neighborhood all day and bodies were delivered to a pop-up morgue. A week after my initial symptoms, I developed breathing problems. It would take me five minutes to recover after climbing the stairs. I couldn’t walk very far at all. Thankfully, the more serious issues waned and I was on the road to recovery. My husband and I were both sick for about three to four weeks. Better days were surely ahead: We had our first dose of the vaccine in March, followed by another in June. I thought I was done with Covid. About a month later, I was gobsmacked to test positive after experiencing what I thought was a summer cold: a runny nose and a lot of sneezing. My husband had the same symptoms a week earlier, but tested negative perhaps due to waiting too long. For a short while, the fear of the unknown returned. I was desperately worried that we would relive our winter ordeal. But the vaccines did their job. Our mild illnesses lasted about 48 hours. I was back at work after taking a day’s sick leave. Some might say that my second go-round was milder because of protection induced by the first bout, but I'm sure having been vaccinated played at least as much of a role. We relocated to Melbourne in November, arriving a day before thousands of unvaccinated people took to the city’s streets demanding their freedom. We watched them with some bemusement, then headed to a local doctor to get our booster shots.—Chris Bourke
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