Considering the Facts
“Getting Vaccinated Is the Right Thing To Do”. - St. Joseph’s Interim Medical Director, Dr. Charlie Morgan
We have all heard that the COVID 19 vaccines are effective in preventing people from getting infected with the virus and that they are effective in preventing people from getting sick, needing hospitalization, and dying from the virus. More recently, we have been hearing on the news, and in other places, concerns about the Delta variant which is a COVID virus that has mutated and is a new variety.
In parts of the country, people who had previously decided not to get vaccinated, are now changing their minds and are getting vaccinated. Why would that change be happening? What do these people know now that is making them decide to take the vaccine?
The Delta Variant of the COVID 19 virus has become the prevalent strain in the United Kingdom and India, and it is now spreading in the United States. In fact, in some parts of our country it is the dominant strain. The Delta Variant is what we are seeing that is infecting people who are not vaccinated. The problem is that this variant is more infectious and more easily transmitted than the original COVID 19 virus, which as we all know resulted in tragic outcomes for our nation and our people. The Delta Variant is thought to be 43 to 90% more transmissible and 30 to 90% more infectious than the original strain. To make the problem even worse, it also can make some people sicker, and it is affecting younger people.
Vaccination has resulted in very significant reduction in death and harm from the original virus. However, some people are not vaccinated, and these seem to be the people who are more likely to become seriously ill when they get the Delta variant. Some have even required hospitalization and treatment in the ICU.
One of the problems is that the infection can be mistaken for a common cold, since loss of taste and smell and cough, which helped medical professionals diagnose COVID with the original strain, are far less common with the Delta Variant. This difference can result in people not quarantining or getting care for COVID, which results in the spread of the disease to others, since they don’t even know they have a strain of COVID that can make others very sick.
The good news is that there is a solution to these issues. We are gaining new information about COVID in general, and particularly about the Delta Variant all the time. One of the latest pieces of information is that even people who are vaccinated can get the Delta Variant, however, those who are vaccinated and get the Delta Variant are far less likely to get seriously sick. Recent data indicate that the Pfizer vaccine gives people 79% protection from getting the Delta Variant. The Pfizer vaccine is also 88% effective in preventing symptoms in people when they do get infected, when people have completed both doses. The Astra Zeneca vaccine prevents hospitalization in 92% of those who are infected with the Delta Variant. Best of all, no one died from the Delta Variant who was vaccinated!
Some myths have caused people to be hesitant to take the vaccines, such as that the vaccine causes infertility. This is simply not true. Other information has been more subtle in causing reluctance among people. Such information includes possible side effects, like myocarditis (an inflammation of the heart muscle) or Gullain Barre Syndrome (a rare disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves). These side effects have been noted, but they occur very rarely as complications of the vaccine, so getting vaccinated actually protects people from getting these syndromes. Moreover, in the case of myocarditis, for instance, as a side effect of the vaccine, when it occurs, it is usually mild and resolves within a few days of rest and maybe some ibuprofen. When myocarditis occurs as a result of getting COVID, on the other hand, it can be serious and life-threatening with lasting consequences. The best thing people can do when they have these sorts of concerns, is to discuss them with their healthcare provider. In almost every case, people will learn that getting vaccinated will protect them from getting the virus and getting seriously ill and will and be far less risky than contracting the virus itself. Put simply, the benefits of getting vaccinated far outweigh the risks of not doing so.
Some people are reluctant to get the vaccines because they wonder whether it’s safe to get them because the vaccines were developed rapidly. We have given them to millions and millions of people, and these numbers far exceed any clinical trial that has ever been done. Medical professionals everywhere agree that they are safe and that getting vaccinated is the right thing to do.
Largely due to the Delta Variant, almost 70% of counties in the US now meet the criteria for resuming masking. If the Delta Variant gets a hold in our population, it could lead to more mutations of the virus, some of which might be resistant to the vaccines we have available. This could be disastrous. For our families, friends, colleagues and communities, getting vaccinated will help to prevent those mutations which might result in another devastating pandemic, with all the difficult consequences with which we have become all too familiar, like shut-downs of our businesses, inability to see our loved ones, restrictions on travel, no school attendance for our kids, and other things that we are now getting relief from as our nation opens back up.
We need to get the Delta Variant contained soon. We know that sunlight kills COVID viruses, and we are approaching fall when daylight hours will decrease.
Furthermore, for those who come to us for hope and healing, people with active addiction are nine times more likely to get COVID than those without addiction and are much more likely to get sick and to die from COVID. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recent reported that overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase.
Although information regarding COVID 19 changes rapidly, for example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working as quickly as possible to review applications for full approval of the COVID-19 vaccines from their current emergency use authorization, the recommendation to get vaccinated remains consistent and considering all of these facts, it is easy to conclude that getting vaccinated makes a great deal of sense and is the right thing to do.