As a long-haul truck driver, Randolph Proksch spends most of the day inside the cab of his truck driving with an hour or two each day at truck stops and shipping and receiving offices.

The vaccine was important to Randolph as the sole wage earner for his family and because “others in my family won’t get vaccinated so I knew I wanted to protect them, as best I could, from any buggies I might unknowingly bring home.”

Randolph was vaccinated in February at the Grants Pass Walmart where the pharmacist walked him through their website to arrange an appointment. Randolph complemented the Grants Pass Walmart saying, “the folks there had the process down – super kudos for a job WELL DONE!”.

He also gave a “heartfelt shoutout” to his employer, Heartland Express. “They worked hard to make sure I was driving through Grants Pass for my vaccination appointments.”

The side effects Randolph experienced were muscle soreness for the first shot, and after the second shot he said, “I felt a little lethargic so scaled down my honey-do list and scaled up the nap time.”

He’s a regular visitor to the OHA website. For him it’s been “a mandatory visit since March 2020, every day after I shut the truck down for the day.”

He’s grateful for the “life-saving efforts of so many smart and caring people . . . and the public health measures we were encouraged to adopt to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

He reflects: “Sure we saw America its worst, and are learning the very bad reasons behind the tragic disparities in our health system  but we have also seen the very best of humanity, and I sincerely believe that we can create a medical system that always respects excellent, humane, compassionate healthcare as a right for each and every one of us.”