Veteran echoes he is grateful for vaccines!

This opinion letter was published in The Times-Independent in Moab, Utah:

A short military career pushed me into an invaluable 12-year advanced medical-history education, making me a true believer in modern medical science.

There isn’t a known veteran who has not received multiple vaccines. Mandatory vaccines of government property are only avoidable at the expense of a less than honorable discharge. 

I’m resigned to engaging with anti-vaxxers; we should always love our friends and family. It’s our right not to get vaccinated. I can judge and accept this misunderstanding of medical science history; the norm is to be much more careful in mutual social contacts.

There were trials and many errors made during 6,000 years of human medical history. This world is full of young people who want to be great scientists and doctors; they live to study medical science advancements. 

Two hundred years of vaccine science increased a 45-year life span, to 70, by eradicating viruses and other disease-causing pathogens — polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, and tetanus viruses and protecting against rabies, yellow fever, bubonic plague and whooping cough. The list is long. Humankind’s understanding of medicine in all of its forms is at its pinnacle, with an abundance of great minds working the checks and balances of medical science.

There isn’t a single person who has ever had the shingles not get the vaccine as soon as possible to avoid another outbreak. 

The current COVID-19 death rate is 1,000 American residents a day, and there isn’t any one of us who doesn’t know someone who has succumbed, mostly the unvaccinated. Currently, I know more than a dozen associates sick and don’t know if it’s COVID, flu, chest, or head colds. It’s the season. And if a vaccine against possible death is an option, then we’re just part of the numbers, and the numbers don’t lie. COVID is a crapshoot; no one knows their case until it strikes.

I’m an old vet with underlying conditions who volunteered to protect the rights of Americans. 

Moreover, I’m thankful and gratefully relieved that I have multiple vaccinations and understand how vaccination history works. 

I’m waiting on my COVID booster from my assigned government healthcare.

Stay as healthy as you can in this trying winter 2022, season.

Gary Hazen writes from Moab, Utah