The next challenge in the ongoing Pandemic saga is the choice to accept and take a COVID vaccine. There is going to be much controversy over this I am sure. One thing is for certain; I will be the first in line for it when the time comes.
When I was a kid my Dad had his own Nurse, Hazel. She always wore the white uniform, the hat and yes she was a smoker. Her breath was gross. Hazel had to work hard to give me shots back then. All our immunizations were given through syringes and needles that were made of glass and steel and then autoclaved to be reused. Nothing to wash up on the beach in those days. No one wore gloves.
My heartrate would soar, I would turn red, and now it’s on. Hazel would have to catch me first as I darted around the room crying about the shot and then finally my Mom and Hazel would pin me down and give the shot. So far I have survived and now I have turned the tide and have given hundreds of injections, started hundreds of IVs and done things to others’ bodies that I would have never imagined in the name of medicine and wellness.
Vaccines in the earlier days were sometimes “live”, which simply meant that if you didn’t die from getting the disease you were being vaccinated for, you would develop lifelong immunity as your body would recall the offending bug and mount a defense in the future. This was how we were able to conquer such debilitating diseases as polio, measles mumps and rubella. My father was afflicted by polio, spent time in an iron lung but survived to go on to be in the first graduating Medical School class at the University of Washington in 1957.
Newer vaccines have evolved with remnant of the virus or whatever bug, so that the body will typically not get sick from the disease, but the immune system recognizes it as a bad player and mounts similar memory for down the line exposures and we don’t get sick. Provided we all have a healthy immune system.
The recent Pandemic and push to rapidly develop a vaccine (and in doing so make companies even more rich) is pushing the science using RNA and DNA. This technology is allowing for quickly designing agents that will change the codes in our body so that in theory we will develop antibodies to the specific viral offender. This would be similar to how we use CAD systems and computers to come up with all sorts of gadgets and tech including Artificial Intelligence. Our human Genome is similar to Binary computer code after all. Hopefully all this technology works well and we are protected from pandemics but don’t end up with thought control or have to join the Borg. Sometimes I hear voices already.
Back in the day, we assumed that vaccinations were great and would help us from becoming ill. Nowadays we have a group known as “Anti-vaccinators” (Not sure that’s a real term but I’ll make it so). These folks claim that these medications cause all sorts of problems. Even blaming forms of Autism on the vaccinations given. These folks by choice (and allowed by most law) can go without for their kids and rely on the concept of “Herd” immunity. (If your kid got vaccinated then mine will be safe). Without taking sides I can tell you that most of those theories have been debunked and studies that supported the ideas were thrown out as fraudulent. My wife and I did studies with both my kids vaccinated with anything available and so far they seem okay, but my Son did turn out to be left-handed.
So it will be curious to see how this plays out. Will the same people who are generally against vaccinations opt out of receiving any COVID shot? Will they rely on the rest of us to roll the dice and hope for Herd immunity? How much politics will play into this?
I will patiently await this whole process to unfold but this time no running away, no having to be held down and Hazel would be so proud and her job even easier, not having to sterilize and autoclave instruments. Just use the needle and syringe once and toss into the sharps container.
