As we have seen over the last year, perceptions of the Coronavirus/Covid lethality, the risks of contraction, and the vaccines available to contain it, vary among the population. The response has been predictably wide. Ranging from thoughtful and informed behavior from many states and communities country-wide, to outright flouting of any responsible behavior. Whether based on blind denial or blunt philosophical frankness in rejecting any unwanted lifestyle or behavioral modification.
The consequences from the latter group’s behavior have been clear and on display from the start of the Covid pandemic last Spring. It no longer matters how or why the net response to the pandemic became so fragmented and fractured instead of unified in battle. What matters now is that we all get on board now together unified against this thing. If we do not, it will spin out of control…again. More people will get sick…again. More people will die…again. Lockdowns will come back…again. Business will suffer and go down…again. People will argue and blame each other…again. The only thing possibly different this time around is that all of the above will be worse.
Because of the second group’s behavior above, along with worldwide breakdowns in political structures, public trust, information guidance, and inadequate health systems, the Coronavirus has infected far more people than it could have, and in the process, has mutated into more dangerous variants of the original strain that can escape vaccination defenses.
In particular, the South African variant, aka B.1.351, and the Brazilian variant, aka P.1, are concerning to all virologists and medical professionals. There are now reports these strains have infected previously vaccinated people and caused illness. Both of these variants are already in the U.S. in numbers enough to grow exponentially if they are not contained in the very near future.
BUT, there IS good news. It does NOT have to be this way. We have the power to prevent this from happening. It comes from medicine. It comes from informed and responsible behavior.
There is one way to fight the growth of mutated variants and thus, any virus. Stop infection transmission in the population with vaccines.
If you don’t want to get the vaccine, and you’re okay constantly wearing a mask, staying distant from everyone, being anxious every time you leave the house, and segregating from virtually everyone outside your home bubble, not being able to travel, for possibly ever, then stand your ground, and don’t get the vaccine. Maybe you’ll wait out the herd immunity thing (80% vaccination) hoping it’ll happen soon enough, and you’ll just get the benefits from everyone else’s immunity. You’ll then be part of the illustrious group tagged “Free Riders.” Not too flattering.
I’m not scared of medicine. I’m thankful of it. I’m thankful there are smart enough people in science and medicine that have confidence and skill to treat my ailments and those around me for years. It’s illness I have a problem with. Covid is a tough adversary. It caught us short sighted and required an EUA vaccine to help us fight it. That’s not something anyone I know has been through before. It’s understandable to be skittish. It’s normal.
We’ve been here before. Humanity has been here before. The global timeline of health, illness, disease, treatments, medicine, vaccines, and recovery are long and rich enough in detailed history to give us all perspective. In most ways, medicine is so far advanced today that it almost isn’t meant to be understood by patients. Not unless you want to study genome sequencing and DNA up close. No. What ultimately matters is trust. You either trust medicine and your health providers, or you do not. If you’re already receiving medical care, you’ve decided to trust the doctors. This doesn’t mean you don’t have a right to be anxious or scared. That’s called being normal. But trust is a conscious, necessary decision to make. If you trust medicine, and doctors (in general) you have to trust the EUA vaccine. Get it done. Help us fight this damn thing, or, just stop going to the doctor altogether. You can’t have it both ways.
If you’ve been vaccinated. You’ve already taken a crucial step to helping all of us out of this muck and mire. The vaccine, however, is not an automatic ticket to freedom and normalcy. Many states have opened up businesses and relaxed restaurant and congregant capacity guidelines as infection rates have dropped. But (again another “BUT”), the political and commercial pressure on state governors is tremendous. It’s not right that these factors are playing a role in public health decisions, but unfortunately that is reality. This is why it is incumbent on all of us to not look to political leaders for guidance on our personal decisions going forward from this pandemic. It is naiive and dangerous to do so. The people to look to for clues and cues on what to do and how we should do it after vaccinations are medical and health professionals who have no political ties.
Beyond that, don’t push aside your own deductive reasoning and common sense for assessing risk just because you can’t wait to go out with friends, jump on a plane, get a facial, a massage, or go to a gym. It doesn’t work that way.
You may not like math, but the math here is simple. Take a few measly minutes and look at what’s happening with the variant trend in your state. There are some good interviews available with medical people. There are articles, columns, op-eds, easy to read graphs and charts. There is plenty of good info out there. There is no excuse to not be informed with credible health and safety guidance about what’s going on. Whether it’s deciding on the vaccine, or how to act after you’ve gotten the vaccine. Like anything worthwhile learning, or understanding. It takes your time. It takes your effort. Give both to learn and understand.
>MB
I found the links below helpful.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant-cases.html
https://www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline/all
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant.html
https://www.immune.org.nz/vaccines/vaccine-development/brief-history-vaccination
Alternate Link: https://fox61.com/embeds/video/520-859d3a11-ffd4-4d63-9625-b9345870cf47/iframe?jwsource=cl