Vaccination

The answer is yes. Whenever people ask if I plan to be vaccinated against Covid-19, I say I do.

It seems peculiar that inoculation to prevent coming down with the virus should be controversial. The vaccine and the virus have become hot-button political issues. I wish someone could come up with a vaccine that could prevent misinformation. It doesn’t matter that vaccines have been proven clinically safe, or that high-profile celebrities and politicians have been vaccinated. When some folks don’t like factual information, they ignore or bad-mouth it.

There might be a very small portion of the population who have adverse reactions to vaccination. Whether this applies to an individual should be determined by a physician, not social media nor political pundits. Generally speaking, inoculations have practically eliminated the spread of very serious infectious diseases. Public health has been greatly improved through the development and administration of vaccines.

When we fall ill due to viral infections, it usually takes days or weeks to regain our full health and strength. In the case of diseases like Covid-19 full recovery might not even happen. In the case of certain segments of the population, recovery may be too slow or not possible. It’s best to be pre-immunized. Taking the vaccine causes processes in the body to recognize and attack the particular microorganism each vaccine was designed to defeat. My physician says that getting a vaccine is sort of like a fire-drill for the body’s immune system.

I like the fire-drill analogy. The practice of conducting fire-drills in our schools and workplaces has prevented tragedy when fires strike in schools and workplaces. Many families also practice regular fire-drills in their homes in order to prevent injury or death in the event of disaster striking at home. Why wouldn’t we also want to conduct a fire-drill for our bodies?

From an economic standpoint, immunization is very cost-effective. It is a part of preventative medicine that enhances our educational and economic foundations. Healthy kids and workers lead to more productivity and better quality of public life. Our health is perhaps our most valuable asset; it’s wise to protect it. Vaccination is relatively inexpensive when compared to curing illness. Regarding economic value vaccination provides the greatest bang for the buck in healthcare.

So, to reiterate my personal response to the Covid-19 vaccine, yes, I plan to receive it. I also plan to wear a mask and maintain social distancing as recommended by scientific and medical experts.

Ciao

The Blue Jay of Happiness quotes medical epidemiologist, Dr. Seth Berkley. “As cities get bigger, our best defense will be to prevent outbreaks in the first place by building better public health systems, improving childhood immunization through better routine immunization and pre-emptive vaccination campaigns.”