As with cancer, sooner or later we’re all going to know someone, or be kin to someone, who has COVID-19, or worse yet dies from COVID-19. It gets closer, it seems, to home everyday.
One of my wife, Danny’s, uncles and his son, her first cousin, are both in the hospital with the virus right now. A friend of mine’s brother died of the virus last week. Who’s next?
Danny and I both got the vaccine when it first became available to our age group. My 88-, closer to 89-year-old dad, was one of the first in line at the Lackey Drive-thru when the vaccines became available to his group. He’s eager to get a booster — even said he wants to be first in line when it becomes available. Danny and I are both eager to get a booster, and will be happy to head up the line when it becomes available to us.
I’ve been fully vaccinated since mid-April and whether or not that has made a difference in my getting the virus I cannot say. Having been on five packed airplanes, and in several busy airports a few weeks ago would seem to indicate that the shot worked. Even though masks were required both on the planes, and in the airports, and my wife and I both complied with that mandate without hesitation, it was probably the vaccine that kept us well.
It was 14 days Sunday since we returned from our trip so that seems to indicate we are in the clear. For now.
I believe in the science, but I know that lots of folks don’t. I have friends and family members that, for some reason, have opted out of vaccination.
I was talking with a friend of mine last week who called to tell us her father-in-law, who is several years older than my dad, had to be admitted to a Meridian hospital for a heart condition. He got a bed, which is hard to come by these days, and has since been released and is doing well.
She and her husband are both vaccinated, but as we were talking about her father-in-law and the risks of a hospital stay during a pandemic, she said to me “I just do not understand why people won’t get the vaccine.” She’s said the same thing before. I don’t suppose we’ll ever understand.
I do find it a bit intriguing that since the latest surge in the delta variant has taken off the number of people who don’t believe in the vaccine has turned into an uptick in the number of people who are now ready and willing to take the shot.
I suppose the chance of dying alone in a hospital bed is much less attractive that getting a needle poke in the arm.
Some folks say they are concerned over side effects that will appear years down the road. Personally I like the odds of being alive years down the road to see what life has to offer better than being dead in two weeks.
I have actually heard people say that there is a “liquid chip” in the vaccine that will give government access to an individual’s comings and goings. That’s absurd. There is no liquid chip. As Sibyl Gordy wrote in her column in today’s paper, anyone with a cell phone, or iPad, or the like has already given the government, and just about anyone else that wants it, access to their comings and goings.
There again, though, I’m not a doctor, I’m certainly not a scientist, and I’m not and never will be a politician. I’m not a left wing, fake news, liberal media type either. I’m a simple country newspaper publisher who has opinions like everyone else. Sometimes I choose to express them, sometimes I choose not to do so.
But, you know what, I’m very tired of shielding myself, and my family, and my friends from the unseen. So I’m of the opinion that we should wear masks and that everyone should get a vaccine. COVID is here to stay and we’ve got to get control of it we ever want to go out again and play.
I do believe in the science and I do like to go out and play. Yes, I do...on both!
