I don’t know what to say that I haven’t already said since this started in the beginning of 2020. If you and I haven’t caught up in years, I studied public health 2013-2015 and was grateful to intern in a clinical laboratory to set up infectious disease reporting standards to state health departments. I work(ed) with colleagues who are experts in healthcare like epidemiology, one being an expert in coronaviruses. I had the opportunity to manage a project on the COVID data in our hospital.
What I’m saying is that I’m a dweeb that is a little bit knowledgeable and connected to wicked smart people who happen to know A LOT about COVID. You won’t find disinformation or politically-charged information in this post.
Here’s the deal: I don’t know how many people I know on here who are still not vaccinated. But in Tennessee, we are averaging 7k new cases a day. We have almost 4k people hospitalized. 1k are in the ICU, about 750 on ventilators.
Those are not normal numbers for the health systems in Tennessee. You do not want 750 people on ventilators in one state. Contrast the infection/hospitalization rate to our healthcare staffing: we are in a critical point. Healthcare staff (from doctors to CNAs and resource staff) are not equipped to mentally or physically deal with a 2-year pandemic. We will see healthcare staff deal with PTSD in ways we saw our grandfathers deal with “shell shock” from WWII. Very few healthcare workers see pregnant women under 30 years old die, much less multiple times.
And the long-term effects of COVID are beginning to be known. Some seem minor (despite a negative COVID test in May, I think I had it and still haven’t regained my sense of smell) while some are significant, such as damage to heart muscle, lung damage, kidney disease, and even risk for strokes and seizures.
So while my MD colleagues are being called in to help take even more hospital shifts on top of their normal workload, I’m making a Facebook post. It’s the least I can do. Here are the things I know about getting the COVID vaccine:
COVID-19 vaccines were developed using science that has been around for decades.
COVID-19 vaccines are not experimental. They went through all the required stages of clinical trials. Extensive testing and monitoring have shown that these vaccines are safe and effective.
COVID-19 vaccines have received and continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history.
Vaccines continue to reduce a person’s risk of contracting the virus that cause COVID-19, including this variant.
Vaccines continue to be highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death, including against the Delta variant.
Fully vaccinated people with breakthrough infections from the Delta variant appear to be infectious for a shorter period.
Get vaccinated and wear masks indoors in public spaces to reduce the spread of COVID, especially the Delta variant.
I know that our education systems have failed us, media outlets are ambiguous and sometimes sketchy, and politics have muddled everything in this pandemic. It’s hard to know who, what, when to trust anything. Most people are not taught the amount of work it takes to get a vaccine into distribution, the literature reviews and lab testing that are done multiple times by multiple people – high school science just teases us with the very bare minimum. We’re also in an era where we were taught to trust doctors, don’t trust pharma, and now we’re skeptical of it all.
You’ve seen a lot of rapidly changing science happening, in real time, in a world-wide pandemic. That’s not because there is a scientific conspiracy, it’s because science changes all the time with new information, and the public isn’t used to seeing behind that curtain. It’s not usually interesting to most people. Just like we don’t usually care about how the hot dog is made, but we enjoy them at cookouts.
Here’s my plea: get the vaccine if you haven’t. Enough people have died unnecessarily, my family members and friends included. If you’ve had concerns about the vaccine, send me a message or comment. I won’t debate or argue with people who just want to debate and argue. I’ve struggled with my own PTSD from this pandemic and have to maintain my mental health for my family. But if you genuinely (or someone you know) are skeptical or nervous, and want to talk to someone about it and not just from what you read in articles or “I know someone who” stories you see/hear, reach out to me. And a number of my dear friends and colleagues that are the experts are on here, too, and I know would be willing to answer questions, too.
Our country has by far the largest infection rate of any country in the world. The reason is largely due to misinformation and vaccine hesitancy. Life will never be “normal” until we are able to increase vaccination rates and stop hospitalization numbers from increasing so rapidly. Right now, there is no end in sight.
Please stay safe.