The Unfortunate Truth about Vaccines and COVID-19

As news articles come out revealing that 58% of Americans who have died from COVID-19 were already vaccinated, many are left wondering what the point is in getting vaccinated. Furthermore, with the unknown risks associated with these new vaccinations, such as myocarditis, not being vaccinated has almost become a badge of honor. But what does this mean for the future?

The Reality of Vaccines and COVID-19
Unfortunately, the reality is that vaccines are not 100% effective against COVID-19. Even with the most successful track records, vaccines typically only provide around 80-90% efficacy, and the jury is still out on the COVID-19 vaccine. This means that even if you are vaccinated you can still get the disease. This should have been red flag #1. When the COVID vaccine came out, they said you couldnt spread COVID. The vaccine was untested, how would they know this?

Your number one defense is hygiene. That’s why it’s so important to continue to practice preventative measures like washing your hands regularly and, if possible social distancing.

The stigma on the vaccine was blown out of proportion. Many vaccinated people were mad at unvaccinated people. The reality is both sides were taking a big risk. If you got vaccinated, you were at risk of unknown outcomes with an experimental vaccination, one such risk is myocarditis—a potentially dangerous inflammation of the heart muscle which can lead to serious cardiovascular problems or even death in some cases. With such unknown risks combined with less than 100% efficacy rates, maybe people should have cooled off on judgment.

Now we are seeing the opposite reaction now that the COVID vaccine is not “all that.” Many unvaccinated people consider vaccinated people sheep and idiots. They see people who rushed to judgment and rushed to get vaccinated as crash test dummies. Both groups’ judgment is really unnecessary, both groups were taking a risk, and hindsight is 20/20.

It’s important to remember that vaccine development is an ongoing process, and not all vaccines will be perfect right away. That being said, it’s also important to recognize that vaccine development will continue in order to create better and more effective products for everyone—both those who choose to get vaccinated and those who decide not to get vaccinated. As long as we continue working together towards finding solutions for fighting infectious diseases, we can only hope that future vaccine developments will produce better results than what we have seen thus far during this pandemic.

While it may be tempting for some people to say “I told you so” to the people on their high horse about getting vaccinated. Humility may be the best course of action. Many of these people were mandated. Everyone has to make the best decision with the information they have at the time.