Sometimes it seems with the passing of each day it becomes more difficult to understand what is taking place in some people's minds.
Although the COVID pandemic took a terrible physical toll on the American population the mental strain was just as draining on the public. When this began more than a year ago there wasn’t anyone who thought it would still be with us now, but yet here it is.
There are more than 570,000 Americans who are no longer with us as a result of it and countless others still suffering from its lingering health impacts. Those are some pretty staggering numbers when you think of it and more deaths than any other country in the world.
What has made the difference in America in terms of reducing deaths and turning things around is the COVID-19 vaccine has shown great results protecting people beyond what the scientists and medical professionals ever anticipated. All you have to do is recall the months prior to the vaccines' introduction when people over the age of 65 years old were dying at alarming rates. Now that isn’t happening.
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However, for some unexplainable reason there still are some misguided Americans and politicians from one party reluctant to get vaccinated. Right now more than 30% of all adults are vaccinated and 50% have had at least one shot, but the number getting the shots is slowing slightly.
That is puzzling, especially with the success rate of the vaccines you would think the exact opposite would be taking place.
Some of the reasons for not getting the vaccine are unique and unfounded. We all have heard the famous "I want to see what happens to people before they get their shot.”
Well, 200 million doses have been administered and yes, there has been some concerns with the Johnson & Johnson and Astra Zenica vaccines, but there hasn't been anything with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
In my case, it is personal experience speaking as two doses of Moderna went into me. Other than a little sore arm with the second shot, there wasn't any reaction. People who really know me realize I am not the type of person who wants to put a lot of medications in my body, but in this instance it made total sense.
The number of people getting the vaccine is still not enough for "herd immunity" that is needed to put down the virus in America. We can get back to a much more normal life with the more people who get vaccinated. So now is not the time to take the foot off the gas pedal on getting vaccinated.
What you also hear from the naysayers is they don’t want to put something in their body that may harm them. Not too long ago I was in a store and overheard someone using that excuse and the interesting thing was sitting in his grocery cart were two large bottles of whiskey.
Yup, I can see that he is the type of guy who doesn’t want to put something in his body that may harm him.
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Something that also has changed since the vaccines arrived is the quickly rising positive test numbers among the younger, unvaccinated population. Medical expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said we are still running at 60,000 new cases a day, which is way too high and most are in the 50 year old and younger age group.
The great fallacy that has been spread since the early days of the pandemic is young people don’t need to be vaccinated because they will get over it without any problems. Time has proven that is not always true. However, testing positive still makes them perfect candidates for spreading the virus to unvaccinated people who could die from it.
Young people flocking to warmer climates on spring break likely helped bring the highly contagious B.1.1.7. variant back to this area, making Michigan the epicenter of the COVID virus right now.
That is why it is good to see major colleges like the University of Michigan and Oakland University requiring vaccinations if students want to live on campus next fall. This comes after 600 infections in the past academic year at the U-M.
Nothing would be better than seeing our kids enjoy the total college experience that has been denied them in the past two academic years. One way to do that is get them vaccinated so they can be in the classroom, at sporting events, musical events and other things that come with college life.
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But as we all know, you can’t fix stupid either.
That is obvious by the people who have used the excuse that they don’t need to get vaccinated because as more people receive their vaccines they will not need it. What was amazing is those words came from some national and state legislators which pretty much sums up their intelligence level and ability to lead in a health crisis.
A large portion of this pandemic that is often overlooked is this isn’t an American problem, it is a worldwide one. What makes that even scarier is countries like India and Brazil that are spiraling out of control without much vaccine help at this time. That is a breeding ground for new variants that may or may not be protected by the vaccines that could spread here, and we would be back to square one.
The reality of the situation is like it or not, COVID is going to be with us for several more years. The big thing will be is if we control it with vaccines and continued safety protocols, or it controls us.
Vaccines are the only thing that will get us back to normal right now. So if you are vaccinated, good for you, and make sure to continue to encourage those who are not to get it started.
It’s never too soon to spread that message and you can even start by the time I see you again on Thursday.
Ken Grabowski is the retired associate editor at the Manistee News Advocate. He can be reached at grubba65@yahoo.com.
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KEN GRABOWSKI: Vaccine hesitancy hard to understand - Manistee News Advocate
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