Procedure for Second Dose Date Math
The date was written down. It was recalculated four times.
To: Family WhatsApp Group
From: The Person Who Checked
Subject: Second Dose Date Math: Final Confirmed Dates
Date: January 10, 2021
Dear Group,
Please find attached the updated calculation of second dose eligible dates for all vaccinated family members. I have revised this document following the earlier calculation, which contained an error, and the subsequent calculation to correct that error, which introduced a different error. This is the fourth version. I am confident it is correct.
Calculation Method
The manufacturer's recommended interval is 84 days. Several sources suggest 28 days. One source cited by a cousin in a different city said 42 days. The official health ministry website was consulted. The ministry website was slow. The page was refreshed. The page loaded and displayed a number that disagreed with the certificate.
The check is meant to reduce uncertainty. Repeating it often creates another reason to check.
I have defaulted to the date printed on the certificate. This is the most conservative approach and will be treated as final unless the certificate date is contradicted by a future official communication, in which case I will recalculate and share an updated version.
Dates Confirmed
I will not list the dates here because this format does not lend itself to a table and the last time I shared the dates in a table someone printed the table and the font was too small. Please ask me directly.
Note on Group Coordination
Second Dose Date Math begins as a private precaution with no audience. It becomes visible enough that other people adjust their timing and expectations around it. Someone in this group has now asked me three times whether I have checked the dates. I have checked the dates. The dates are in the document that I sent twice and will send again upon request.
Routine is considered proof even when nobody remembers the original reason. I do not remember why I became the person responsible for tracking everyone's dose timing. I am the person responsible for tracking everyone's dose timing.
The precaution turns into a social rule whose absence is noticed faster than its presence. If I do not send a reminder two weeks before each person's eligible date, I will receive a message asking whether I have sent the reminder.
Final Note
Please do not forward this document to anyone outside the group. The last time a family document was forwarded it arrived back to me from an unknown number with a note saying the dates were wrong.
They were not wrong.
Regards