I Freaking Love That People Are Dressing Up for Their COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments

Sarah Prager
·4 min read
Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Cosmopolitan

I’ve reached that part of the pandemic where I live in mumus, athleisure is now fancy, and I don't remember jeans. I know my newfound style is not unique these days, so when I saw someone wearing a sequined evening gown on Twitter, it was a shock.

She wasn’t a celebrity primping at home for the Golden Globes, so where could she be going? Turns out she was getting all decked out for the best possible reason: her COVID-19 vaccine.

I reached out to the woman in the picture, Ashlie Atkinson, and she told me by phone she had bought the long green dress pre-pandemic to wear to a later-canceled 2020 gala for her roller derby league. When I asked her why she wanted to dress up to get the shot she said, "I just wanted to celebrate the joyousness of the occasion and I wanted to bring some joy to people that have been working long hours."

Tens of thousands of people rejoiced along with her when she tweeted a picture of her outfit saying that the vaccine appointment was "THE EVENT OF MY YEAR." The replies to Atkinson’s tweet are full of photos of others' vaccination outfits, from dresses to special t-shirts to a cow costume to an unworn bridesmaid dress from a wedding canceled by the pandemic.

As I scrolled through them, I was actually moved by the collective exhilaration around the arrival of the vaccine, which everyone will be eligible for on May 1, President Biden announced on Thursday. After an unbearably long year of grief, stress, and isolation, we can finally see a glimmer of hope. Getting the shot is a concrete step towards finally having those postponed weddings and parties and playdates and peace of mind. The CDC announced that grandparents who have been vaccinated can hug their grandchildren without worry. Like... how does that not make you want to dress up?!

A year ago we didn’t know how long it would take to develop a vaccine or how effective it would be. Now the FDA has approved three different vaccines and they are all just about 100 percent effective in preventing hospitalization or death from COVID-19 and up to 95 percent effective in preventing getting COVID-19 at all.

Roll out the red carpet.

Dr. Nancy Yen Shipley had that same hope and mental relief in mind when she put on makeup and an off-the-shoulder flowing dress for a night out to the hospital in January. When she arrived for her second dose of the vaccine with her stole, clutch, and updo, she felt a nervous excitement. As the syringe full of the highly-anticipated vaccine entered her arm, she smiled under her mask.

While her husband went to deliver a cake to the night shift nurses, Dr. Yen Shipley had a moment alone while she waited during 15 minutes of post-shot observation. That’s when she broke down and cried.

"I spent the last year worrying about so many things," she told me over the phone. In addition to being a surgeon with patient interactions, her husband is a pulmonary and critical care physician who has been treating patients with the most serious COVID-19 cases in the ICU. "It is a reason to celebrate, it’s a momentous occasion," she says. "It makes it feel that much more special to dress up and it also adds a little bit of fun back into our lives after what has been a really trying year for everybody."

I’ve been imagining the moment I get my shot for a year. Now, it definitely involves a celebratory outfit. I'm thinking a long flowing dress and earrings inspired by Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissent collar. It'll go perfectly with my recent haircut that was done masked in a driveway.

Hey, so if a three-piece suit or a velour halter top feels like the appropriate garb to celebrate this moment, walk into that clinic dressed to the nines and pick up this season's most coveted accessory: a Band-Aid.

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