Dear Fellow Vaccine Hesitant People

Here’s why to get the shot even if it’s unsafe and a conspiracy

Dear Fellow Vaccine Hesitant People,

I am not a doctor or a scientist but I try to stay informed so I can make the best decisions for my health.

I am writing to ask you to get vaccinated against COVID-19. I am not sure I can convince you but we’re all in this together, so I have to try.

When asked by a student what was the earliest sign of civilization in the human species, anthropologist Margaret Mead answered it was when we started caring for another.

No creature survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. You are eaten first. A broken femur that has healed is evidence that another person has taken time to stay with the fallen, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended them through recovery.

I try to be compassionate but I want to punch the self-satisfied pro-vax bullies as much as you probably do.

I will not try to “educate” you, or bombard you with links to articles backing the science and the data. I know you will just send back an equal number of articles from websites you trust.

I do not think you are ignorant or selfish. Or at least not any more than I am.

Reasons not to get vaccinated

• I think it’s the fact that some people are so SURE they are right that annoys me the most. As soon as someone puts on the scientist cap and starts pontificating, I tune out.
• Don’t tell me what to do. I am an American. I value freedom, personal liberty. Rights of the individual in balance with the collective should benefit the common good.
• I decide what goes into my body. If I want to live on Doritos and kale, that’s my choice. Go ahead-judge your ass off- I don’t care what you think.
• Conspiracy theories and medical miracles? Look up Eugenics and Tuskegee and you’ll understand why I may not want to put my health into the hands of the government and its latest medical advances. Deadly X-Rays were used to remove leg hair as a beauty treatment. Here ladies, take some Thalidomide for morning sickness. Ooopsie!

I am one of the people who went from no to yes. It was my decision. I read, talked to people and made up my mind. Went for it.

I am vaccine-hesitant but took the shot, anyway. I took the Johnson and Johnson shot the day before they paused its use. Blood clots. Great. I woke up with a headache in the middle of the night and thought, “Well, if this is it, I’ve lived a good life. My only regret is leaving my clothes closet such a mess.”

Luckily, it was just allergies.

I guess if I had to choose, I’d rather go quick than linger in a backless paper gown, alone, hooked up to beeping machines. I’d hate the feeling of not being able to breathe. If I was conscious, I know I’d be thinking “shit, I made the wrong choice again- just like the time I ordered that Crème de menthe sundae- only this time I’m gonna die.”

Five reasons to take the jab

1. Go with the odds. Even if you are skeptical, odds are you are more likely to die from COVID-19 than from potential side-effects of the vaccine.
2. Optimism. One theory is to thin the herd, let the weak ones die, and the strong survive. I would like to think we’re closer to Margaret Mead’s definition of civilization than Orwell’s dystopian Animal Farm. Maybe, just maybe, like polio and smallpox, this vaccine will work. And if so, then the herd immunity thing helps others. I’m all for that.
3. Risks. Frozen poo can fall from the sky and kill you when you’re out for a morning stroll. Be bold. The vaccine has been taken by almost 4 billion people and we’re not dropping like flies or worshipping Jeff Bezos.
4. Freedom. It’s still your decision. I value my free will. I am not easily convinced or brainwashed. People are bombarding us with information from both sides. One person’s knowledge is another’s bullshit. It’s still your choice.
5. Sometimes you have to go along to get along. I am not a dog person and I don’t like sports but sometimes I pet the dog and listen to the sports talk because I care about what’s important to the people who are important to me.

I am not convinced that vaccines are 100% safe. I know they are not 100% effective.

So why did I get the shot?

The number one reason was that I wanted to hug my kids. I appreciate having raised children who don’t want to risk killing me. I respect their feelings even if I don’t agree. They believe the vaccine is the best chance of staying safe and so I took it.

After I got the shot, I felt more comfortable going back to my drum class, seeing friends, going to the grocery store.

I would feel like an asshole if I inadvertently passed along a virus that killed someone.

So even if:

• There are side-effects of the vaccine
• You believe that COVID-19 is no worse than the flu
• You distrust the statistics that show a resurgence of COVID deaths in pockets of unvaccinated people, and that the illness is less severe in people who are vaccinated
• The vaccine is implanting a microchip in our brains (which I don’t think is the case, but stranger things have happened-MSG is no longer bad for you)

Getting the shot is the best chance we have. Come on in and join me in the pool of the vaccinated.

Yours truly, Karen

A recent graduate of the Newport MFA and lifelong troublemaker, my poetry and prose have appeared in Brevity, Multiplicity and Voices of the Valley Anthology.