To overcome a pandemic of this magnitude, we need all hands on deck. That means you too. Healthcare workers and biochemists have been working around the clock to develop a vaccine against COVID at warp speed. All you have to do is show up for your shot when there’s one available.
Here’s why vaccines are important.
History Says Vaccines Work
Do you know anyone who’s had polio? Did you have a polio shot when you were young? Even if you didn’t have this common vaccination, there’s a good chance you’ll never catch this devastating disease. Why not? Because most other people have had their polio shot.
It’s hard to believe that polio dominated the civilised world during the early 1900s, reappearing every summer with devastating effects. This virus-borne disease spreads the same way that COVID does and has severe effects in about the same percentage of cases. If you got polio and survived, you were likely to be paralysed for the rest of your life.
That all changed in 1955 when American scientists came up with a vaccine. By 1994, polio had all but disappeared from the world and today it’s only a problem in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Getting Vaccinated is the Right Thing to Do
Vaccinations work by ‘giving’ the person a mild case of the targeted disease. In this small dose, your immune system can beat the virus, building up the necessary antibodies in the process.
In most cases, you can’t get a viral disease more than once. Even seasonal flus are once off events. So, if you’re immune to COVID thanks to vaccination, you can’t get affected by that virus again.
If your body can defeat every coronavirus it encounters, COVID 19 – just like polio – stops with you. You form a barrier against the virus that protects sick and elderly people from contracting the disease.
Some People Don’t Believe in Vaccines
Some people don’t take vaccines for religious, ethical or moral reasons, but since they’re in the minority, they have little impact on the overall efficacy of vaccines.
The bottom line is, if you don’t get vaccinated, you’re at risk of contracting COVID-19 and transmitting it to everyone you come into contact with.
It’s true that we know extraordinarily little about this new virus that’s caused so much devastation around the world, and we don’t know how long immunity will last, but right now, it’s the only shot we’ve got.
For now, the best you can do is follow the safety recommendations to the letter, try to help others affected by coronavirus, and stay strong. We will overcome this blip in our history too if we all work together.