Vaccine Hesitancy

This past Thursday I drove my wife 45 miles to get her second vaccine for the Covid-19 virus. I couldn’t be more excited to finally get her fully protected from this deadly pandemic. My wife was “Yea, OK…let’s do it if we can go visit the local shopping area.” 

Our priorities might be different but neither one of us were adverse to getting this vaccine to protect us and also  those we come into contact with. Problem is, some of the people we come in contact with are not going to get a vaccine shot. I am sure they have reasons but I can not believe any of them are more plausible than, “I don’t want to die a horrible death.”

I have to admit I did have some side effects after my second shot. I was lethargic, tired and napped three times a day. My wife said those weren’t side effects, just my normal weekday.

I was a child at one time. My sons may dispute that and argue that I was born a grumpy old man. There was a day When I was just a little guy, with five siblings in the same school. The big fear for my parents was polio. People were still getting infected by that plague and many died or were crippled for life. I was young and really had no clue what polio was. I just knew there were some kids that were on crutches, in wheelchairs, or wearing braces but that was just the way they were. One day at school, the whole student body was taken down into the basement and marched through a line where they gave us a sugar cube with some pink or purple stuff squirted on it. No one refused to take it, in fact every student couldn’t be happier about getting to suck on a sugar cube. It turns out that colored stuff on the cube was the polio vaccine. I never heard about any parents being hesitant about their children being vaccinated against a horrible virus that was devastating so many families. If my parents had a complaint, it would have been the school sending 6 children home to them hopped up on sugar.

Looking at history, we as a people marvel and celebrate the discovery of the cures or prevention of deadly diseases that wiped out large swatches of the population in the past. The Black Plague, which changed the course of history…several times… during the middle ages, is now just a bacterial infection that can be treated by one of the marvels of science, antibiotics. Leprosy, now known as Hansen’s Disease (Raise your hand if you think it should be called “Bible” disease.), was the scourge of biblical times. We are reminded  in church how people of the bible feared this disease. It was so scary, Hawaii dedicated one of their beautiful islands, Molokai, to be a leper colony just to keep the victims isolated. This is another bacterial disease that can be treated and cured. Smallpox was another plague that devastated populations all over the world, up until the middle of the 20th century. Only 40 years ago Smallpox was declared eradicated. It took almost 150 years to finally find a vaccine to stop this horrible virus. In my research, I could not find any hesitation about taking that vaccine. People were happy to take it and not  die. How “woke” of them.

Fortunately for us, drug companies and scientists are constantly looking for innovations to help create possible cures and vaccines in between pandemics. I know a lot of you out there think they just sit around in Hawaiian shirts, knocking down brews while waiting for the next worldwide scourge to arrive, then they decide to kick it in gear and come up with a solution. Au contraire (And you thought the only French word I knew was fondue.)

Scientists have been working on a thing called RNA Technology. I would explain the whole principle of this ground breaking research, and I would be the most surprised if I could, but simply, it is a way of sending the body’s immune system a message telling it to fight this specific virus. As a result of this groundbreaking discovery, the pharmaceutical companies were able to come up with a vaccine for Covid-19 in less than a year. Are we all standing and cheering, like when the Cubs won the World Series? The impossible happened, and we should be celebrating. This also means science is ahead of the game the next time we have to fight another possible pandemic. As for the Cubs, it looks like it is going to be another 108 years before their next World Series win. Why can’t science fix that?

Unfortunately the vaccine has become a political football. There are many who are more concerned about who gets credit for the creation of the vaccine than getting it into people’s arms. Even though they tout their guy getting the vaccine done so quickly, many of them refuse to take it based on some crazy conspiracy theories. One has Bill Gates implanting a microchip in the vaccine so he can keep track of everyone who takes it. When I got my shot, I insisted on having the Steve Jobs vaccine because I have always been an Apple guy.

I just read a story before I wrote this article that a private school in Miami, Florida is warning their very young student body not to hug their parents if they have received the vaccine. They claim that they might be exposed to “harmful vaccine shedding.” WHAT! Does the vaccine make you shed skin like a snake? Does the vaccine make your hair fall out? Do little nanobots start floating around in the air making you buy Microsoft software? Who sits down and thinks up such crazy things (who isn’t a bitter, former President of the United States)?

Many evangelicals are declining to take the shot for some reason. The Pope, who I would call an influential religious leader, has encouraged everyone to get vaccinated. It looks to me like God has answered our prayers to end this pandemic with a quick discovery of a vaccine. It reminds me of a lady sitting on the roof of her house during a severe flood. A guy in a boat, then a helicopter and finally a jet ski comes by and offers to save her from her dilemma, but she passes saying, “I have faith God will save me.” 

The water rises and the lady drowns. At the Pearly Gates she asks God why He didn’t save her and He responds, “I sent you a boat, helicopter and jet ski, but for some reason you turned them down.” (A very old joke but it helps make the point.)

To be able to defeat this pandemic, we need enough people to get vaccinated to reach herd immunity. Instead, we have a very large group in this country refusing to take the vaccine, meaning we have reached herd insanity.

I have to go. I keep hearing this little voice in my head telling me I need a new iPhone. Who am I to argue with the disembodied voice of Steven Jobs.

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