Vaccinated and Boosted? Omicron Is Coming for Your Sanity.

Covid confusion is the next public health crisis.

“Are you worried?” asks a character on TikTok to his mirror image self.

“About what?” the image responds.

The character just looks back, raising his eyebrows.

“Oh my God!” says the image, suddenly panicked. “You’re right!”

A year ago our focus was straightforward. The goal was clear; the end was in sight. Keep your mask on, open your holiday presents in the cold, and get vaccinated as soon as you can.

Now, the energy I once spent enduring isolation goes to reminding myself, as I skim the latest Omicron story, that this isn’t spring of 2020. That we know more about this virus than we ever have. And that I have three doses of Moderna coursing through my veins. (I got boosted at 6 months pregnant; I’m now 8 months and we’re both doing fine.)

The Omicron variant poses a new threat to our society. But maybe not in the way you’re expecting. Because if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve done done everything you can to protect yourself and those around you from the virus. Now, we must ask ourselves whether this habit of fear and caution, firmly entrenched in our collective consciousness over the past 22 months, poses an equally serious risk to societal wellbeing. The safest choices may no longer be the best choices. Our youngest, oldest, and most vulnerable have borne the worst of this pandemic. Even if we don’t know all the answers, even if we can’t be 100% sure they are completely safe from Covid, they deserve hope and peace. They deserve to enjoy life, free from fear.

Obsessing over the unknowns and doomscrolling NPR (sorry) for confirmation that your worst-case-scenario fears are founded doesn’t make you safer. (And let’s be real, if you’re reading NPR for covid news, you’re also triple-vaxxed and have an Amazon monthly ‘subscribe and save’ for KN-95's).

So maybe instead of getting that next dopamine hit from panicked headlines, try some of these alternatives.

1. Get vaxxed and boosted if you haven’t already. Two doses of Moderna and Pfizer have proven effective against severe disease, hospitalization, and death for the majority of people. If you want to further minimize your chance of infection or symptoms (or if advised by your doctor), get a third shot.
2. Educate yourself. I have found that Twitter is an excellent way to connect directly with epidemiologists who interpret data, post studies, and share personal opinions. Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, Prof Francois Balloux, and Bob Watcher are my favorites. You will get better, more nuanced information than the news media.
3. Stop blaming anti-vaxxers and learn how to talk with the vaccine-hesitant. Some people who have not chosen to receive the vaccine may never do so. But there are still plenty who might.
4. Learn how to support the essential workers, especially those who work on the front lines, or can’t take PTO to stay at home with their quarantined kids. Essential workers have never had the luxury of working from home. They work weekends and holidays. Many of them have PTSD from last year and still continue showing up to work. If anyone will be hurt by the Omicron wave, it will be these folks. Consider providing gifts of meals, gift cards, cash, and childcare. (Getting yourself vaccinated is also a gift to them).
5. Fight for global vaccine equity so that anyone who wants a vaccine can protect themselves, and to slow transmission and mutations.
6. Be grateful for what you have and make choices that are meaningful to you. If you have immunocompromised loved ones, instead of avoiding them, consider making some lifestyle adjustments of your own so that you can spend time together safely.

I share these thoughts as an administrator at a nonprofit that provides 24/7 care to very vulnerable people who did their part in 2020. Before the vaccines came out, we locked down. We knew that one infection could prove deadly, and I could not bear the thought of any one of our residents isolated, intubated, saying their last goodbye over Facetime. And we all made it through to vaccination. In this new Omicron wave, sometimes it does feel more comfortable to me to revert back to the safety and simplicity of 2020 isolation. But is it really in their best interest to continue to be fearful and err on the side of caution? Knowing what we know about vaccine efficacy, even in the face of Omicron, is that really what is best for their lives at this point? No, I can’t say that it is. Instead, I lean hard into the wisdom of physicist Marie Curie, “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” And I head back to Twitter, to understand more.