We are health ignorant. Considering how much accurate information is available, it’s surprising that so many people hold to long-disproved ideas. I actually have a friend who insists that taking an antibiotic makes her feel better when she has a cold. Her gut health is deplorable because the antibiotics kill her good bacteria. She hates having to replenish her gut bacteria with yogurt because she is lactose intolerant, but she feels compelled to take a pill for a cold. You’ve got to take something, right?
In olden days, bloodletting was a common practice. Many people claimed they felt better, and doctors touted it as effective for all sorts of conditions. The key was that most of the conditions were related to “bad humors” in the body which were relieved by balancing the amount of blood, which they felt was too abundant, by letting some out, as if easing an overinflated tire. It probably worked well for hypertension, or to prevent folks from excessive partying. Without a full tank of blood, who feels like doing anything?
So our pharmaceutical companies have worked hard to produce a vaccine to purge our world of our current dreadful illness. They made an effort to test thoroughly while picking up the pace. They have tested and found the product to be effective for nine in ten people, with few side effects (discomfort where the shot is given, for example), and only the same kinds of problems for people with allergies, which leaves them out of the program anyway (people with some allergies take no vaccines at all).
The plan is to roll out shots to healthcare workers first. They need that, so they can stay healthy enough to treat the sick. Next will be nursing homes, then the elderly (of which I am now a member), and finally the general adult public.
Some of the general public, though, are having none of it. People don’t believe in the vaccine. But then some folks don’t believe there is a crisis, nor that face coverings are necessary. 2021 may be an even stranger year than 2020, if just for the videos of anti-vaccine zealots versus the pro-vaccine front.
And what about “may we see your vaccination card?” Does anybody remember when we got our childhood “21 gun salute” vaccine which left a scar on the upper arm? It was symbolic of one’s crusade to stay healthy and protect the population. Today we don’t get scar-producing shots, but if the healthcare system keeps count and verifies that enough of us have taken the shot(s), life will start to get better, fewer people will get sick and/or die and the crisis will be nearly over.
I feel confident enough to be first in line for the vaccine, with the hope of life returning to normal by spring. This is not something that can be treated with an antibiotic. I think I can stomach that.
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