CommentsTHE DOCTOR IS IN--I've never been a fan of bullies and/or bigots, and we're living in a world where those screaming about bullies are too often THEMSELVES the bullies, and those screaming about bigotry are too often THEMSELVES the bigots.
Accordingly, those shaming others who are hesitant to get vaccinated are THEMSELVES part of the problem. On a daily basis, and as a physician, I regularly encourage those hesitant to get vaccinated with a balanced approach of emphasizing that vaccination is a right but NOT a responsibility/requirement in this nation of civil rights ...
... I oppose the concept of any mandated, top-down government requirement to be an American citizen.
I also am quite aware that many nurses and other healthcare professionals, some of whom are among my favorite and most reliable colleagues, are still hesitant to get vaccinated...and I refuse to presume they're all stupid and ignorant.
1) Do I think that the hype about vaccination side effects has been fomented by those with agendas, and/or a lack of education about the current vaccines we have for COVID-19? Yes.
2) Do I think that the reality of airlines and cruise ships (and perhaps hospitals or other enclosed places of employment and high-risk of COVID-19 super-spreader events) will encourage if not force private entities to require "vaccination passports"? Also...Yes.
(Consider me an ardent supporter of required voter ID, as is agreed by MOST of the American public, and by all ethnicities, but I digress.)
3) Do I think that too many state and local governments have over-reached in agendas that are too often discriminatory against those with political, pro-business, pro-children/family, and pro-religious beliefs? Sadly...Yes.
4) Do I think that President Joe Biden and Dr. Fauci have used this pandemic for their own personal, political, or egotistic gains, and perhaps want to milk and play this pandemic out for as long as possible? Also, sadly...Yes. (I miss the less egotistic, and more sincere, Dr. C. Everett Koop of the Reagan Era).
5) Do I think that many have overplayed the "rights" approach to vaccination and denied themselves the freedom and health that will be open to them with vaccination? Sadly, and sadly again...Yes.
6) Do I think that this pandemic has been for too long used as a political issue? Absolutely...Yes!
A few quick points:
1) Blood clots are a problem both WITH having severe COVID-19 cases, and AS WELL AS potential side effects of the vaccines out there. Start Vitamin D supplementation (1-2000 IU of Vitamin D3 per day) without a prescription needed but run the idea of daily baby aspirin with your doctor if you're not vaccinated.
2) Contrary to popular belief, our COVID-19 vaccines are NOT unvetted, and we're NOT ignoring new potential side effects as they come.
The AztraZeneca vaccine in Europe is being rejected by various because of unusual clotting events, with more than 220 cases reported. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being put on hold by the CDC for six reported cases of clotting.
So, the argument that we're not being cautious and watchful is just...not...true!
3) Yet HOW MANY vaccine doses have been administered to date?
852 million doses across 154 countries!
So do the math--both former President Trump and a host of a liberal experts have railed against President Biden and the CDC for stopping the Johnson & Johnson vaccine based on ridiculously low numbers of side effects that might not even be related to the vaccine (the clotting occurred in women, who well-known to be at risk of clots with smoking, birth control treatments, and other factors).
So, is the decision of the CDC to stop the J & J vaccine smart or ridiculous? Positively prudent or downright dangerous?
4) As the horribly biased New York Times reports, the least-vaccinated counties in the U.S. have something in common: Trump Voters. Oooooh, those awful, terrible Trump supporters (~45% of the November 2020 voting public)!
Yet the biggest group of Americans dying are those are among Black and Latino communities, and the biggest groups of those Americans hesitant to be vaccinated are Black and Latino Americans. While more Black and Latino Americans voted for Trump than ever before among GOP electorates, most did NOT vote for Trump.
So, while white, anti-vaccination (or at least hesitant) Trump supporters are perhaps the most visible, Black and Latino Americans who oppose (or are at least hesitant) vaccination are in much greater percentages and numbers...but don't get the attention because even LIBERAL media outlets IGNORE the plight, sentiments, and challenges facing Black and Latino Americans.
5) For those entirely on board with COVID-19 vaccination, Moderna plans on having a COVID-booster shot available by the fall (LINK: ), and Pfizer will do no less.
Like the influenza virus, COVID-19 mutates, and annual updated vaccinations will likely be necessary for "newbie variants" of the COVID-19...such as those we've seen from Brazil, South Africa, and Britain, and which are tearing through the U.S. because of their more aggressive and contagious potential.
Annual flu and COVID virus updates/booster shots will be almost certainly the rule, and not the exception.
6) But let's not forget that Florida and Texas are opening up--and without masks!--based on the numbers and the science that show the viral cases decreasing in size and in aggressive nature.
Let's not forget that catching COVID-19 is NOT the same as catching and having the severe, life-threatening response to the COVID-19 virus that is the cause of most of the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19, and which tends to decrease during the warmer months, and in part because of less social distancing that occurs as closed-space and family gatherings decrease.
In short, COVID-19 shaming, and shaming those who want to wait or who are hesitant to be vaccinated, will NOT help the problem.
I personally recommend vaccination in the same manner that I recommend ALL adults monitor their blood pressure (particularly Black Americans) and diabetes risk factors (particularly Latino Americans) for one main reason:
Because THIS doctor wants you all to live, and to enjoy more freedom and a better quality of life.
But I will not shame anyone who has a different opinion than my own.
Because as a doctor, I know that I could always be WRONG, despite my greater understanding of infectious disease than the average Joe/Jane American.
And for those of you doing the shaming, please STOP, because...
You're making the problem and the pandemic infinitely WORSE.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 8-9 years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach, Planning, and Transportation/Infrastructure Committees. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
-cw
