This commentary is by Michael Rosengarten, M.D., of Richmond, a former faculty dean at Harvard University and adjunct professor of Medicine at McGill University.
I am concerned for the health of our community and the pandemic. On TV, I saw a woman with a sign “I want to be protected in the natural way,” and one nurse who said “vaccinated people still infect others, so why get vaccinated?”
In my own experience, the man who cuts our grass resists vaccination while worrying about infecting his grandmother; another who came to help with our dying well (much appreciated) was not vaccinated and not worried about his kids; and when I asked an unmasked clerk at a store if the staff was vaccinated, I got a forceful “Never!”
Why? Maybe it was political, but now Donald Trump (who helped speed the development of the vaccines), Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell support vaccination, as does President Biden. All are fully vaccinated.
The idea of “natural protection,” which carries a 1-2% mortality rate as well as disability with the “long hauler” syndrome, does not seem like a good option. Yes, it seems possible that vaccinated people, and if reinfected, could pass on the virus (the data is still coming in), but even with the Delta variant, compared to unvaccinated people, they are about five times less likely to die from the infection (UK statistics).
There is a lot of misinformation out there that we could address, but suffice it to mention two examples: Vvaccines contain microchips and can cause one to be magnetic. Neither of these is true. What is true is the vaccines work.
So where is the vaccine resistance coming from? Vaccination lowers the death rates, lowers the disability rates, and protects others. This said, Newsguard (September 2021) found more than 500 internet “news” sites peddling misinformation relating to the Covid-19 vaccines. The New York Times reported a Russian-aligned disinformation campaign that taps into skepticism and fears of coronavirus vaccination. Independently, a friend sent me a link to an English language Russian site (https://en.******.ru) that claimed vaccines are dangerous poisonous injections, have terrible side effects, and there is no need for a vaccine for anyone. Vaccination is termed a “Global Genocidal Event.” All this from a featured doctor who claimed to cure Covid with hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and zinc sulfate, which are proven to be totally ineffective. I wonder if here in Vermont, some good people may have been fed bad information.
Together we stand, and divided we fall. The good news is that about 78% of Vermonters have received at least one shot, and 70% two (about 56% for the United States). In Franklin County, my county, 78% of people over 12 years of age are vaccinated.
Statistica reports that Vermont is the state with the lowest death rate from Covid (51/100,000 population versus Mississippi which has the highest death rate, six times higher than Vermont). It looks like we are doing better than most with a higher vaccination rate and a lower death rate.
I just worry about the unvaccinated, and I hope the vaccinated will protect them or that the unvaccinated will choose to join the majority of Vermonters.
Perhaps we can start a conversation to understand vaccine resistance and save some lives.
