SOAPBOX TIME AGAIN

Every now and then I feel the need to hop up on my soapbox and get my two cents worth in. Well, now that I am 71, I don't hop anymore but rather carefully step up using the handrails. 

First of all, I am NOT a vaccine person. No, I am not an "anti-vaxxer". I've just never thought that routine vaccinations were a big deal.  Then my baby son had a bad reaction with a high fever to the first DPT vaccine. It was awful and they eliminated the "P" (pertussis) from the second dose that often caused the problems. He was okay but I was turned off. 

Flu shots are often ineffective. They guess as to which strains of influenza will be prevalent in the next year when they are formulating the vaccine. Being pretty healthy I've had one flu shot in the past 40 plus years. And, knock on wood, the last time I had the flu Darrin was six years old.....39 years ago. Being a pretty healthy person, I've never had a pneumonia or shingles vaccine. It's just not in my make up to run out and fill my body with all these things.

BUT....this one is different.......REALLY DIFFERENT! 

At first I was reluctant when they were rushing the covid vaccines into trials. Given my tendency to avoid vaccines, I needed to be convinced. But I trust Dr. Fauci and the other experts. Having lost two sister-in-laws to this horrible virus, I read everything I could find. In a very short time I decided that the way vaccines are made now, it was safe. They have been working on various covid vaccines for 6 or 7 years knowing that this was going to happen. Vaccines for the current strain, Covid-19, just needed to be plugged in and trials hurried along. I was totally onboard AND it was worth any minimal risk to protect myself and the rest of the people in our world. 

I want to encourage everyone to please, please, please get the covid vaccinations. That is the way that we will get our country and the world on the way back to "normal". The experts say that vaccinating 70 - 80% of the population will create a "herd immunity" for Covid-19. As I looked up facts to verify those numbers I discovered that herd immunity for measles was 95% but for polio it was only 70%.

Back when I was maybe ten years old, I recall going to the local junior high school for the Sabin polio vaccine. It was dropped onto a sugar cube and put in one of those tiny paper cups about one inch across. We all filed by the table and were handed our sugar cube in the cup. My dad dumped it into his other hand and as he was popping it into his mouth, the attendant about had a fit shouting, "Don't touch it! You aren't supposed touch it!" It was already in my dad's mouth and he never contracted polio so I guess it was okay.

I don't know if it was required or if it was just recommended or what. Being a kid I don't recall how we knew or what records were kept of who took the vaccine. I did know that polio was a terrible disease. According to the Mayo Clinic website, "Polio is a contagious viral illness that in its most severe form causes nerve injury leading to paralysis, difficulty breathing and sometimes death." The CDC website states that in the 1940s, 35,000 people a year were afflicted with polio. That is a drop in the bucket compared to Covid-19.

I bring all of this up to encourage everyone living in the U.S., and the world, to please get the covid vaccine. The polio number of 70% vaccinations have eradicated polio in our country. If we can get 70 or 80 or 90% of citizens vaccinated, we can kick this virus's ass. This is not political, this is not a hoax, this is not a conspiracy. This is real....and real science and real medicine can protect us. 

After more than a year of isolation, mask wearing, social distancing and fear, the feeling of finally getting that first vaccination was exhilarating and liberating. I felt I was helping myself and my granddaughter and every other citizen of the world by doing my part to put this horrendous virus into the history books. The fight continues and the fight is real.

I implore you to please get the facts, read all the information then step up and do the right thing by getting vaccinated. I love meeting with friends and saying, "I am fully vaccinated!" and hearing their replies, "I am, too!”