Most young children have been required to have received a vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough) since the late 1940s. The exceptions to this have been rare, with most of those excused citing religious convictions. In the 1950s, the citizens of the country were routinely vaccinated against smallpox, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and polio. The vaccine against polio, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, was licensed in 1955. In the 1960s, vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) were developed. In the 1970s, one vaccine was eliminated; starting in 1972, because of successful eradication efforts, the smallpox vaccine was no longer recommended. We are, as a country, well acquainted with the importance of inoculations against disease. And despite the presence of a virus that has to date, taken the lives of more than 627,000 people in the United States, there are people who either refuse to vaccinate, or are hesitant to do so.
A cartoon I saw recently had a young person asking a parent about her smallpox vaccination scar. The child asks why she does not also have one; the parent responds, “Because it worked.” But diseases that had been effectively eradicated because of vaccines are making a comeback. Measles and mumps are returning, partly due to insufficient or waning immunity, but mostly due to increased instances of vaccine refusal. People are dying who need not, some of whom who had pledged allegiance to a political figure who dismissed the coronavirus as a “hoax,” and refused to wear a life-saving mask. This should not be. The United States has many educated people, but our education is doing us no good if we cannot use it to advocate for and advance the cause of disease prevention.
A news report on the Indianapolis Colts coach Dan Reich’s positive test for Covid-19 also noted that the Indianapolis football team has one of the lowest rates of vaccinations in the league. Reich was reported to have been fully vaccinated and was asymptomatic at the time of the positive test. For those who want to cry “See! It doesn’t work,” please note that Reich is not on a ventilator.
Someone said to me that they don’t know what is in the vaccine. This person has a small child who has been receiving its regular immunizations without any parental objections. In June of this year, the American Medical Association (AMA) released a survey showing that 96% of practicing physicians surveyed reported being fully vaccinated for COVID-19, with an additional 45% of those unvaccinated planning to do so. My nephew is an RN; his wife is a physician. They are both vaccinated for Covid-19. My sister is also vaccinated, as is her brother: Me. I also get my annual flu shot and have gotten the first dose of my shingles vaccination, albeit a little late. I don’t know what is in any of those vaccines, but I will stand in line behind a physician any day to get punctured with the same juice they’re getting.
As of July 27th, 2021, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending that even those who are fully vaccinated should continue to wear masks indoors. That is because we are falling back. After a slow start, we ramped up our attack against the killer virus and began to make inroads against it. Now, there is the Delta variant which has a higher degree of transmissivity. And Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NAID) says the current crisis is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Stop it. Help us, please: Get vaccinated.
cjon3acd@att.net