Anti-vaxers, Get Over Yourselves--The Vaccine Is Not All About You

As predicted, viral variants are now causing most of the new cases of COVID-19 disease around the world. The Delta variant, formerly known as the “double mutant,” which first arose in India and as earlier discussed in these pages, is extremely transmissible and seems to cause more severe illness. It arose in India because the country was way under-vaccinated and, therefore, a prime incubator for producing more lethal viral variants. As the virus replicates in a person’s cells, then spreads to another person, it accumulates small mutations that, by chance, can make a significant difference in its virulence. The virus replicated over and over and over in unvaccinated India and a more potent strain evolved. It is a matter of time before an even more potent virus emerges that resists the current vaccines, thanks to people who refuse to be vaccinated. That refusal potentially affects all of us, not just the vaccine recipient.

It is one thing to not be vaccinated because of vaccine supply and delivery problems. India, and countries in Africa and South America fall into this category. It is another thing to willfully refuse to be vaccinated when the vax is readily available. The latter is just wrong and inexcusable. There is no rational reason to not be vaccinated!

Anti-vaxers cite a litany of false claims about how the vaccine might be dangerous for them (the evidence refutes that). They say it is experimental (it has been well proven and uses technologies that are decades old!), or that it is not FDA approved (it is!), or that it is ‘gene therapy’ (it is NOT!), or that people have died or become sterile from it (flat wrong!). Anti-vaxers also complain that we do not know the long term effects of the vax (name ONE vax that had long term effects!). After millions have been infected with the virus or have been vaccinated, the evidence clearly shows that the worst thing that can happen to someone is to be infected with the virus, and that the safest thing is to get the shot. Follow the science, not your emotions.

Note that the objections to the vaccine are all self-focused. No thought is given to the reality that if an unvaccinated person is infected and does not practice caution, he will be responsible for spreading the virus to his family, friends and strangers. And, he might very well be the source of the next, more deadly variant. As I wrote earlier, a great example of how vaccines protect others is the Japanese experience with flu vaccines. After Japan mandated that school kids be vaccinated against the flu, elderly flu deaths plummeted. The vaccine clearly did not just benefit the kids, it benefited others with whom they had contact. The same holds true with the coronavirus vaccine.

Unvaccinated people in India led to the emergence of the Delta virus variant that has overwhelmed health care systems in India. Even younger, healthier people are getting sick. Delta is now spreading in unvaccinated people in at least 62 countries, including the US where it now accounts for 20 percent of new cases, up from just 2 percent a couple of weeks ago. You do not have to be a scientist to see where that trend is leading.

Delta also is now the dominant strain in the UK accounting for three quarters of new cases there. It has forced a four-week pause in the UK’s reopening plans. The variant could also affect reopening in the US as well, thanks to the anti-vaxers.

The good news is that people who are fully vaccinated are well-protected against the Delta and other variants—so far. Again, it is just a matter of time that a vaccine-resistant variant emerges. Again, there is no rational reason to not be vaccinated, but there are billions of reasons to get vaccinated. It is not all about you, but also about your fellow humans on the planet. Get the shot!

Note: In order to have blog updates delivered to your email, see the simple Subscription Instructions here. Remember, you can easily unsubscribe when you want.