The light at the end of the Covid tunnel gets a little brighter this week.
Phase two of the vaccine roll out starts today.
We are well behind schedule, so there’s a lot of catching up to do if we don’t want another anxious Christmas with masks and social distancing measures in place.
With several countries still on a hard lockdown and India in the midst of a devastating tragedy where bodies are washing up on river banks and funeral pyres are burning in parking lots around the clock, let’s hope we don’t experience the kind of vaccine hesitancy that America is now battling.
India should serve as a cautionary tale for all of us, of how bad things can really get without thoughtful leadership that have a healthy regard for science.
Most, if not all, of our healthcare workers in the Western Cape have now been vaccinated and, from today, the focus is on the elderly, aged 60 and above.
Those of us who have lost elderly loved ones to Covid-19 can attest to how welcome this progress is.
America started it’s vaccination program at a trot and, to date, has managed to fully inoculate more than 120 million of its citizens.
The country is now dealing with debilitating cases of vaccine hesitancy, to the extent that vaccine supply is outstripping demand countrywide.
It is the consequence of widespread fear-mongering and disinformation that went unchecked throughout 2020 and even took hold here in South Africa.
I still hear a lot of people say they won’t rush to get the vaccine and will rather wait to see how it affects others.
The problem with that strategy is if everyone waits to see how it affects others, then nobody will end up getting it.
And the consequence of that is it moves the goal of herd immunity even further away.
Hello, lockdown Christmas 2021!
Then, I have also noticed how those who are completely anti-vaccines, continue to dig in their heels.
They are the ones that will make our lives very hard going forward, because they refuse to research the science properly and refuse to acknowledge that science is about broad consensus.
If you are a die-hard anti-vaxxer, please do this thought experiment for me: let’s say you contract Covid and don't get sick, but it is still infectious.
And let’s imagine, through some crazy science, you could literally see yourself passing it on to people around you.
Like, you could literally see your virus entering their bodies.
Now let’s imagine they get sick that very moment – right there in front of your eyes; you can see them gasping for air, suffocating – fighting to breathe.
Now let’s imagine it’s someone very dear to you – your child, your spouse, your mother – on the ground in front of you, begging you to help them breathe.
Finally, let’s imagine that you could magically pause the moment, travel back in time and take the vaccine to save their lives. Would you?
That is what is being asked of you right now.
Consensus science is finding that the vaccines are even more effective at preventing infection than what was originally thought.
My partner works in healthcare and was vaccinated two weeks ago.
She hasn’t become any more annoying than usual, give off 5G radiation or even run a fever worth any extra attention.
Caption:
centre has opened at Rylands Civic Centre TRAGEDY: As India’s Covid-19 fatalities continue to soar, people are forced to cremate bodies by the river