My One and Only Statement on Vaccines

Vaccines are not devoid of risk. We simply cannot know or predict the long term effects of the vaccine yet, as that will take years. (Remember thalidomide?)

Further, I do not believe it should be called a vaccine as it does not in fact stop you from getting Covid, especially the omicron variant. I think we should have called it a prophylactic or pre-treatment or some other word invoking “you might still get this but it won’t kill you.”

ALL THAT BEING SAID, the risks of the vaccine are far outweighed by the risk of Covid because NO-ONE can predict whether or not they will get a severe case. Covid’s very terror seems to lie in the fact that, even though some people with comorbidities have a clearly increased risk of death, even healthy people can succumb.

There are risks and consequences to everything. Historically pandemics have made people crazy and even violent because we switch into a fear-based mode very easily courtesy of evolution.

I will not lie to you and tell you that there are no risks to the vaccine. But I will tell you that all of my doctors and nurses took it and were adamant that I have both doses and a booster. I may require another booster in the future. And every single time I will choose the vaccine.

One of my students wrote to me in his introduction that he nearly died of Covid. He caught it twice before they lowered the age requirement for the vaccine. The first time he literally almost died and the second time he had a mild but symptomatic case. He is fully vaccinated now but the trauma of the first infection stays with him.

Get your vaccine, people. I don’t believe in government mandates or forcing people to get a vaccine. Dominion over your own body is a sacred natural right and should not be breached. But we all need to take a step back from the fear and look at the actual numbers.

Vaccines work (even if they don’t inoculate you) and will absolutely save your life. The risks are FAR outweighed by the benefits.

This is my one and only rant on this subject. I believe it is time to say that people have taken their chances one way or the other and step back from the precipice we are on as a society that increasingly divides people and teaches them to hate each other.
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Get your vaccine. Or don’t. But it’s time to stop the fear mongering and acknowledge that it is safe and effective at preventing serious illness and death. Long term data will not matter to you if you die of Covid right now.