Choosing sides on vaccination
In the current struggle over COVID-19 vaccination, there are only two teams playing — and they aren’t what some people tell you they are.
Worried about your kids getting polio this summer after a trip to your local pool? Of course, you’re not. Folks in the United States in the 1950s, though, were terrified by that possibility[1]. You, of course, have the luxury of not giving polio a second thought, because the battle of people vs. the polio virus in this country was fought and won decades ago. The deciding factor in that conflict — the development of two different effective polio vaccines. The widespread distribution of those vaccines virtually eliminated the polio virus from the US (the last US case was in 1979)[2] and continuing routine inoculation against the disease has kept it from reemerging.
Now, of course, we are facing another, different danger. COVID-19 cases are rising again in the United States, with the more transmissible (and more dangerous) Delta variant accounting for an increasing percentage of hospitalizations and deaths. And not only are hospitalizations and deaths from this particular variant on the rise, but the longer this pandemic drags on, the more likely it is that an even more dangerous version of COVID might eventually emerge.
And yet, there is no need for any of this to be happening. COVID-19 (like polio) is now a mostly preventable disease, with safe, effective (and free!) vaccines widely available all across this country[3] [4]. Yet in many parts of the US, fewer than half of the residents over the age of 12 have been vaccinated[5].
Many people are framing their refusal to get the vaccine as a “personal choice”, and of course, it is. However, an unfortunate number of people have been influenced in that choice by widely spread disinformation about the available vaccines. There are concerns that the development was “rushed” (it wasn’t — people have been working on coronavirus vaccines for over a decade, following coronavirus outbreaks in 2003 and 2012)[6], or that the FDA approval process cut corners (it didn’t)[7]. And with millions already vaccinated, serious side effects have been far, far, less common than the devastating effects of the virus itself. The estimated vaccine-related death toll in the US — three persons[8]. The toll taken by the virus itself on this country — over 600,000 dead[9].
There are also a significant number of people who see the choice of whether or not to be vaccinated as “choosing sides”, and it is that, too. However, the “sides” are not what you might think (and definitely not what many talking heads on television tell you that they are). In making a choice to be vaccinated or not to be vaccinated, you are not really choosing the “blue” or the “red” side (viruses, after all, are quite apolitical). What you are actually doing is making a choice between the “people” side and the “COVID-19 virus” side. This is, in fact, the same struggle that people in the 1950s faced — and won — when the polio virus was the terrible, lethal adversary.
Does it really matter if you get vaccinated? Yes, it does. Choosing to get a COVID-19 vaccine (assuming that you are eligible and that it is medically safe for you to do so) cuts off another potential host for the coronavirus and moves all of us towards herd immunity, that point where the virus simply cannot find enough new, vulnerable hosts to spread to. The result — virus levels and infection rates plummet, intensive care wards empty out, and human lives (potentially hundreds of thousands of them) are saved. Score one for humanity!
On the other hand, if you choose not to get vaccinated (in spite of being eligible and medically able to do so), like it or not you are choosing to give a direct assist to the COVID virus as it continues to spread, mutate, and threaten the health and economic well-being of this and other countries. Fewer vaccinated people means that more people will get sick and die, while the COVID-19 virus continues to thrive — a huge win for it. Oh, and to top things off? Many experts now predict that without herd immunity, everyone that is unvaccinated WILL eventually get COVID-19. And already the unvaccinated account for well over 95% of hospitalizations and deaths in many states[10].
But it really isn’t just about you, is it? John Donne wrote that “no man is an island”[11], and that is particularly true where public health is concerned. We are all part of larger communities — families, neighborhoods, cities, states, countries — and as such, we share responsibility for protecting not only our own health but the health of others in those communities as well (particularly those that are more vulnerable to disease than we are). Many have argued, in fact, that it is one of our civic duties.
But I’m not arguing for a vaccination mandate. I’m just asking you to be aware of what the actual “sides” are when you make your choice. Will you choose Team Humanity or Team Virus? Because those are the only teams playing. And we (Team Humanity) need your help in order to deliver the knockout punch to COVID. So I hope that you get your vaccine. You can do it for public health. You can do it for the economy. You can do it in order to do your part in helping your community thrive. And you can do it to help leave COVID, like polio, behind us.
[1] https://www.history.com/news/polio-fear-post-wwii-era
[2] https://www.cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/polio-us.html
[3] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/safety-of-vaccines.html
[4] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vaccine/art-20484859
[5] https://www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-covid-19/vaccine-tracker
[6] https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/how-decade-coronavirus-research-paved-way-covid-19-vaccines
[7] https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/12/health/covid-vaccine-fda-cut-corners/index.html
[8] https://covid-101.org/science/how-many-people-have-died-from-the-vaccine-in-the-u-s/
[9] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-deaths-united-states-each-day-2020-n1177936
[10] https://abcnews.go.com/Health/statistics-show-risks-vaccinated-covid-19/story?id=78845627
