The Allman Brothers Band Actually Had It Wrong by RG May 5, 2021

In 1969, the Allman Brothers Band of Macon, Georgia released their first album titled uniquely as “The Allman Brothers Band”. Of the seven historically iconic songs on this album release, the song titled, “It’s Not My Cross to Bear”, is a four minute, forty-eight second southern blues, jazz rock of sadness. A couple of lyrics and phrases of this song is worth noting. First comes the first line of the song, “I have not come here to testify” and the second is, “I sat down and wrote you a long letter.” Starting with the first line, I am here to “testify” and write you a “long letter” if need be.

Today, Wednesday May 5, 2021, while most should be out celebrating Cinco de Mayo, the American acquired Mexican liberation from Napoleon III French forces within Mexico, at 10:45 AM I am in line at the local fairgrounds to receive my second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shot. As this whole ordeal starting back some 14 to 15 months ago has continuously been filled with mixed messaging, today really take the cake.

Arriving at the final position of this process under the tent that contained two drive-thru lanes and housed some 40 to 45 individuals all adorned with “Department of Health” vest, I approached the position and stopped my vehicle, handed the person my “ticket”, they scanned my QR code document, and then showed me the information which was contained within the hand held tablet which was my name but they did not verify it was me by requesting my driver’s license. Rolling up my shirt sleeve and just prior to the male administrator giving me my shot, I asked one question of this individual which on the surface came across as comical. I contend it was a serious and valid question. My question to this person was, “Are you a licensed medical professional or are you just someone the State took off the street?” With that question he paused for a moment and all the others surrounding my vehicle stopped what they were doing, looked at me and then everyone began to laugh. Finding their response unacceptable, I asked my question again but this time with one caveat, “How can I be sure you know what you are doing and have been trained probably?” Again, my question drew more laughter with no one giving me a legitimate answer to my question. So, this episode caused me to think and I decided I will do some research on this issue when I get home.

First, I went to the Georgia Department of Public Health website (https://www.dph.georgia.gov) where while thumbing through I found a link to a document titled, “Authority to Vaccinate”. This document contains two issue points concerning; (#1) Who has the Authority to Administer the vaccines, and issue (#2) is, Do volunteers who are not licensed health care professionals have the authority to administer vaccines? Beginning with issue #1, it lists nine (9) authorized licensed medical professionals for the State of Georgia that who by the nature of their job that they perform are uniquely allowed to give vaccines and these are; Pharmacist, Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), Registered Professional Nurse (RN), Advanced Practice Nurses to include a Certified Nurse Midwife-Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist-Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist, Physician Assistant (PA), Medical Student -Intern or Resident, Certified Emergency Medical Technician, Paramedics, and Certified Cardiac Technicians. The additional individuals to round out this list include an Acupuncturists, Veterinarians, Chiropractors, and finally a Dentist. Oddly, the list did not include the classification of a Doctor whether board certified or not, and by the way a Doctor is allowed to give injections. Each of the authorized professionals on this list also had the associated state of Georgia statute that allows for their authorization to administer vaccines to people during normal situations.

The real issue and crux of this correspondence lies and is found within Issue #2 which concerns “non-licensed” health professionals having the authority to administer vaccine injections. Per the first sentence of the first paragraph of the answer it states, “there are no statues in the Code or in the state’s rules and regulations that specifically state that individuals who are not licensed health care providers have the authority to vaccinate.” The remainder of this paragraph and the second paragraph references several state statues: O.C.G.A. § 31-12-2.1(b), § 31-12-3(a), § 38-3-3(2), § 38-3-35(6), and § 50-13-4(b), all of which implies that the state under the Georgia Emergency Act of 1981 has an implemented “school of thought” allowing the State by these statutes to authorize and allow non-licensed health workers to administer vaccine injections. However, there is one real big problem. After reading through all of these statutes you find that there are no references made, either by actual statements or by any inferences, that non-licensed health workers would be allowed for such an act. Therefore, the only way by which the State of Georgia has allowed these non-licensed public health workers to perform such acts as administering injections is by assumption only and we all know what happens when you ass-u-me. Meaning, that while we are going through a Public Health State of Emergency, as declared by Gov. Brian P. Kemp on March 16, 2020, the State has by this act put all citizens of the state of Georgia health at risk. If there has ever been a time when licensed health care providers are needed, it is during a Pandemic that has been declared a State Health Emergency. Relaxing the requirements that are in place during “normal” situations during the times when there is an actual emergency makes about as much sense as when an aircraft has made an emergency landing at an airport requiring the emergency fire department to respond but the airport instead allows private citizens of neighboring communities to be on the scene with buckets of water and a garden hose. It makes no sense and has no logic. All the State has done is sacrifice public health and wellness for numbers. There is no justification for this State’s action on how it administers the vaccine other than it is more important to Georgia to meet a number of vaccines applied. My health is more important to me than any arbitrary number the State is attempting to obtain. This action by the State of Georgia has been encouraged by officials at the highest levels of our government and by those individuals who by their title and position are acting on the bequest of the federal government and who have been promoting their calls on all forms of media routinely for over 14 months and therefore, are also mutually complicit in the act by providing contributory negligence.

As Billy Joel in his “River of Dreams” album released in 1993 sings in his song, “I go walking in my sleep”, for 14 months we all have been walking in a “valley of fear” through a “jungle of doubt” but we are in a “desert of truth” that is “too hard to cross” for we all are “looking for something that we cannot find”, so we turn to the “mountain of faith” but “somebody stole” what we are looking for and it is “something so undefined that it can be only seen by the eyes of the blind.”

Finally, if all of this is not enough in today’s mail, I received a letter, a notice (Notice Number: 1444-C) from the White House signed by our recently ordained President. This letter is nothing but just a piece of Administration’s propaganda attempting to bring justification for the actions of issuing a check for $600 and one for $1,400, as a means to continue to promote his “American Rescue Plan”. What a farce. For the record, if I ever need rescuing, this President and or any and all within his Administration will be the very last, if at all, people I will turn to for help.

Going forward, it seems that if the State of Georgia as well as any other US State needs assistance in issuing vaccines during a declared State Health Emergency, that instead of calling on “Joe the plumber” or any other unlicensed individual who has volunteered their time to serve, that the State should activate and call up the state’s National Guard units, which by their creation were formed to assist states in times of declared emergencies and that it is the Governor’s duty and responsibility to do so. In particular, have the medical divisions of the Guard to provide the medical assistance since they have been trained in such medical emergencies and situations in the field.

We each have a responsibility to ensure we get necessary and proper medical care and services from licensed professionals. Likewise, the State also has the responsibility and duty that all the medical services they are providing to each of its citizens are of the highest caliber, level, and quality that can be provided to include that any individual called upon by the State during an emergency to administer medicines to include administer vaccine injections meets the State requirements for medical professionals that have been trained, have the established knowledge, and that they are licensed. Anything else is unacceptable no matter the cause of the action. Otherwise, it all has been done as Clint Eastwood said in his 1993 movie, “In the Line of Fire” “half the things the government does is ‘window dressing’”.