This week I will get my second dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine. The first dose gave me a headache and nausea. So this time, I’m prepared. I have ginger ale and Fritos on standby, and I downloaded an audio book so I can goof off afterwards, but still feel I’m accomplishing something.
I’m literally, physically, about to get
a shot in the arm.
But I am also about to act out an idiom in real life!
When you hear people using a shot in the arm, they are usually not talking about a literal needle or vaccine. They’re talking about something that “injects” new energy into a situation. There’s a sudden, positive change involved. The help you’ve needed is here.
This new funding will be a shot in the arm for our company.
Getting an A on his midterm was a shot in the arm for J.T.
Buying that new microphone was a real shot in the arm for my Zoom sessions.
With the vaccine newly and imminently available, you will hear people who never do puns play with this idiom. It’s just too tempting. We’ll use it (consciously or unconsciously) as we report news about vaccines getting approved, rolled out, and administered.
The approval of a third vaccine is a shot in the arm for our public health efforts.
We just can’t resist! Just this once, the idiom is literally true. And we are giddy with hope. We are physically getting needle pokes. And doing that is also bringing an injection of new, positive energy into the fight against COVID.
I have never been so excited about getting poked with a needle. After the year we’ve had, and the constant news of variants and hot spots and overwhelmed health care providers, this is something we can do. So, understandably, I’m encouraged. I feel revitalized. I have new hope. I can confidently say that–
This vaccine will be a shot in the arm!
Fun Fact: In Britain, the vaccine is called a jab.