I love the earnest Google reviews of vaccination sites

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

I get emotional hearing about people I don’t know getting vaccinated, too. Turns out, I’m a huge softie when it comes to people getting protected from a deadly disease! Social media is full of post-jab selfies that will make me tear up a little during the workday. And this week, my wonderful co-worker Kait Sanchez pointed me in the direction of another way to soak up the joy of the newly vaccinated: the Google reviews of COVID-19 vaccination sites.

Normally, I’m appropriately skeptical when reading any online reviews since they’re highly subjective and usually only by people whose experiences were extremely good or extremely bad. But I threw that out the window scrolling through the latest reviews of the Javits Center in New York City, which I now fully believe is a happy place for people with vaccine appointments. It’s “so impressive,” one now-immunized person wrote. Someone who took their mom to an appointment wrote that “the service we received was beautiful.”

People in Arizona are excited to get their shots at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. I’m so happy for Ken, who said he’s “half way to wonderful” after getting his first dose of the vaccine.

Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts is usually home to the New England Patriots and New England Revolution, but these days, it’s also a five-star-reviewed mass-vaccination site for the state. Sandi got vaccinated there and said it was a great experience, writing, “You’re in and out within 30 min, but of course you must take pics!” — and attaching those pics.

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