COVID19 vaccine is free! Immunization is liberating.

Maine Writer- Trust me!  Being COVID19 vaccinated is liberating. Nevertheless, I continue to wear a mask in public, keep preventive public health practices and use disinfecting hand wipes. Yet, I feel so much relief knowing that I have achieved 95 percent vaccine immunity.  Listen to this physician from Tennessee!

An opinion published in the Tennessee newspaper the OakRidger!

https://www.oakridger.com/story/opinion/2021/02/26/extended-pandemic-stay-vigilant/6840276002/

• 575 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Suite 100, Oak Ridge, TN 37830

Tennessee: As the novel coronavirus spreads throughout the world, it changes. Even though there are hundreds of variants, we only identify those that might have more clinical significance. New varieties from the U.K. and South Africa have mutated to become more transmissible and cause more serious infections, so we are in a race with the virus.

To win, and to crush the virus, we will need to double down on efforts to wear masks and avoid crowded confined spaces. We especially need to get everyone vaccinated as soon as possible. Even though more people are agreeing to take the vaccine, enough are refusing it to make herd immunity elusive. Unless we protect enough people to deprive the virus of easy targets, the pandemic and the viral mutations will continue.

Fears of the vaccine may have some element of truth about side effects, but diving deeper generally shows these fears to be unfounded. Alternatively, even if someone is not likely to die from getting COVID-19, more than a third are having long-term complications.

The vaccine will not alter one’s DNA. The COVID-19 vaccines currently approved do their work outside of the cell nucleus and never encounter our DNA. Some viruses like herpes and papilloma do enter our DNA and can cause serious problems — including more than one type of cancer from papilloma viruses. Despite this, about a third of people will not take existing vaccines to prevent the conditions these viruses can cause.

The vaccine will not make a woman infertile or cause birth defects. There were some early reports that it might affect a pregnant woman’s placenta. This has been disproven. The vaccine can even be given during pregnancy.

Based on the expense of several routine vaccines, some people are worried about the cost. The COVID-19 vaccine is free.

Some people are concerned that the vaccine was rushed to market without adequate testing. This is untrue. The consolidation of clinical trials and efforts of different groups working together for the first time allowed much testing to be done simultaneously instead of sequentially. The COVID vaccines are as safe as any vaccine.

Some people fear conspiracy because of legacies from the past. It is important not to create “Tuskegee in reverse.” In other words, don’t become a hapless victim of unreasonable fear. I got both shots as soon as they were available to me.

Even though the seasonal flu and COVID-19 are caused by different types of viruses, their basic mechanisms of infection and mutation are similar. A hundred years ago, the Spanish Flu virus mutated from “just the flu” into one that after a short incubation period could become lethal within hours. In other words, by the time you knew you were sick, it was often too late to save your life.

We need to continue to take this virus seriously and keep practicing what we know. COVID-19 will be with us for years, but the tragedy for many will be that they had the solution in front of them and did not act.

Physician William Culbert lives in Oak Ridge and has a practice in Clinton, Tennessee.