Why I took the COVID vaccine and I hope you will, too

So I got my first shot of the Moderna COVID vaccine last week. Like for nearly everyone else, it was no big deal. My arm was a bit sore for a few hours and that was that. On Feb. 18, I’ll get the second dose and two weeks later–almost on my birthday, I’ll be 95% protected. If I’m one of the unlucky 5% who do get it, I am almost completely assured I won’t die from it. That’s good enough for me!

It’s a huge stress reliever for me. After being pretty much locked down for the better part of a year, I am so eagerly anticipating freedom again. In fact, my birthday dinner will be exactly one year from our last restaurant meal. That’s a long time to quite literally be living in the shadow of death.

It’s not just the physical possibility of infection. That was stressful enough. It’s the emotional stress of watching friend after friend after family member come down with the disease. We lost one family member and one close friend and never had real closure with their loss. Some of those who contracted COVID are suffering long term effects. Others, including my brother, made it through pretty much unscathed. This terrible year has taken a soul-searing toll.

No, the pandemic is far from over yet and yes, we all need to be aware of each other’s safety and wear our masks and socially distance, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. It feels like I’m exhaling for the first time in a year. I suppose that sounds a bit melodramatic, but we’ve all been cooped up for nearly a year and we’re all over this.

So why did I go with the COVID vaccine?

If you’ve read my blog for any period of time, you know that I’m not a big fan of prescription drugs and especially not of Big Pharma. In simple terms. COVID scares me. I’m nearly 73 years old and exceptionally healthy for my age. I’ve got a lot of years in me and I don’t want to cut my life short or that of my husband (who is 79). We’re not at all a couple of doddering oldsters, but we believe in science and, as a health writer, I took the time to read the literature and decided whom to trust.

First of all, I’m a very logical person. I trust the public health officials who have assured us of its safety.

There are a lot of nutbirds out there who are trying to tell us they’re injecting trackers into our blood streams. Hello? I have a cellphone. I bet every single one of you does, too. “They” have already had the ability to track us anywhere. Why would “they: (whoever they are) bother to put it in a vaccine which at least 20% of the population will refuse. It’s completely illogical.

Are they hiding “massive deaths that have already occurred” from the vaccine?

You can Google this yourselves. There are no massive deaths. Yes, there were 23 deaths of frail elderly people in nursing homes in Norway after patients were given the vaccine. But what you may not know is that Norway averages 400 deaths a week in nursing homes. These are not in any way approaching the expected deaths. I’ve eliminated that as a reason to opt out of the vaccine.

Use your logical brain. There is no evidence.

But it was fast tracked. Is it really safe?

Yes, the vaccine rolled out in a record ten months. It’s true that some regulatory obstacles were removed . What really happened? Amazing advances in genetic research allowed scientists to read the viral genetics in days, a process that until very recently took months.  I really like this explanation from the University of Michigan: (LINK) https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/wellness-prevention/not-sure-about-covid-19-vaccine-get-facts-then-decide

“…scientists and vaccine makers had already been working for years to develop a ‘platform’ approach to making vaccines against new viruses. Think of it like a drill that can accept different sizes of drill bits, or a food processor that can use different kinds of blades. This “platform” uses messenger RNA (mRNA) as the delivery agent to teach the body how to recognize and fight a new virus. The first vaccines to reach the market use this “platform” strategy.”

Governments paid companies with promising vaccines in advance, so the ones that didn’t work were thrown out, but the companies didn’t lose any money, so they were not tempted to push something that didn’t work.

But don’t those mRNA messengers change our DNA? In short, “No.” It simply brings a message into the body, to tell the immune system what to look for if coronavirus gets in. It doesn’t go into the nucleus of the cell where the DNA is stored.

But won’t the vaccine give me COVID?

No. There is no live virus in the vaccine. It cannot give you the disease, but it can cause some unpleasant side effects like fever, headaches  and fatigue for a day or two, especially after the second dose. And yes a handful of people have suffered serious allergic reactions. just like those that can happen with any vaccine. No one has died that I can determine. In the millions of doses that have been administered to date, there is no pattern of serious side effects or deaths.

What we do know for certain is that well over 400,000 people have died of COVID. My cousin’s husband died in July and a close friend’s mother died in May. I personally know dozens of people who have had the disease, including my brother. I know a few who have long term effects from COVID.

And my final argument: Can we actually stay locked down for the rest of our lives? I have no intention of doing that.

I took the vaccine for all of these reasons. That’s why I’m eagerly looking forward the second dose and to the rest of my life. I hope you will get vaccinated, too and that you’ll urge your friends to do the same the same.

Click here for my other articles about COVID-19.