“To Be Vaccinated or Not to Be? That is the Question”

Did you get the Covid-19 vaccine? If not, do you plan on it? Tell me more in the comments.

*Any stats/general COVID-19 information will come from the CDC website for consistency.*

Most Americans plan their years off the months and the seasons. Spring March to May. Summer June to August. Fall September to November. Winter December to February. Repeat. During winter, most of us are in celebratory mode — many holidays occur in the winter, and our minds begin to think ahead and plan for the new year and the many things it will bring us. But during Winter 2019 we didn’t plan for 2020 to bring us this thing called COVID-19 and we didn’t think ahead about consecutive months of being under shelter-in-place orders. But it did. COVID-19 is here and has been here for a while. Unsure when this thing will leave. I had a COVID-19 Christmas in 2020. I wrote about it.

Ironic timing because December 2020 was when the very first COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the FDA. But I wouldn’t even have been able to get the vaccine to prevent myself from contracting COVID-19. As many of us know, healthcare personnel got the VIP treatment and were able to get the vaccine first (obviously), and then residents of long-term care facilities got to cut the line. Then the essential workers were on deck. Now all of us regular folk are able to get the vaccine. You gon get it?

But ya girl still hasn’t gotten it yet. I am still unsure about it. But despite my personal feelings about the vaccine, I know that it’s a hot topic for many people and organizations right now. I asked 6 people who I knew got the vaccine and/or publicly encouraged people to get the vaccine a few questions about their experiences. Out of the 6 of them, all of them personally chose to get the vaccine, and it wasn’t necessarily a requirement of their profession. However, as you’ll see, most of them are in professions where contact with other people is inevitable.

	Robbin	Christine	Lydia	Kyria	Blake	Dave
Profession?	Nurse	Speech Language Pathologist	Medical School Applicant	SPED Subst. Teacher	Advocate/ Organizer	Attorney
When?	1/12/21, 1/30/21	12/1/20, 1/2/21	1/23/21, 2/20/21	2/23/21, 3/19/21	February 2021	3/6/21, 4/3/21
Provider?	Pfizer	Pfizer	Moderna	Pfizer	Pfizer	Moderna
Symptoms?	Sore arm/neck, fatigue, flu-like symptoms, body aches	None 1st shot; sore throat, slight fever, sore arm	Slight headache, fatigue, slight arm soreness	Sore arm	None	Sore arm,
COVID?	No	No	No	No	No	No

I think it’s important to note that none of them contracted COVID, which is a blessing! Since I already had COVID, I think that might have an effect on my decision to not get the vaccine right now. I am an attorney, as you know, and I actually work with Dave. In our roles as attorneys, we are in court a lot, talking face-to-face with our clients (wearing masks of course), visiting the jail often, and obviously engaging in water-cooler talk with other coworkers at the office (but we don’t have a water cooler). Many of my coworkers are vaccinated or have signed up for the vaccine.

Another family member of mine got the vaccine that’s provided by Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine only requires 1 dose/shot to be fully vaccinated. She didn’t experience any symptoms; not even a sore arm. A couple of other family members received the Pfizer vaccine and reported a lot of fatigue the day or so after receiving the second shot. What is a vaccine anyway? “A vaccine stimulates your immune system to produce antibodies, exactly like it would if you were exposed to the disease. After getting vaccinated, you develop immunity to that disease, without having to get the disease first.” Definition from CDC. I read that to mean that a vaccine gives you a small shot of the disease, but not enough to get you drunk. Well, I already had a full dose of COVID, my body already produced the antibodies, so I don’t need to get the COVID vaccine, right?

In addition to the questions I asked above, I also asked those 6 people if they had any words of advice or opinions for those considering/not considering getting the vaccine. Here are their words of wisdom:

Robbin: I would suggest receiving the vaccine when it becomes available to you, especially if you are in a high-risk category (i.e. over 60 years old or have pre-existing health conditions).

Christine: It’s a very personal choice. Take time to read more than what’s on Insta and other social media sites. If in doubt consider the counsel of people who really know science and not just friends or family.

Lydia: I don’t know who needs to hear this, but: PLEASE GET VACCINATED. As we note in real-time, if we do not approach vaccination with urgency, we allow the virus to mutate. Therefore, this could increase the virus’s pathogenicity and virulence, even among those already vaccinated against the virus’s pre-mutated form. At this time, I want to take the time to challenge two popular arguments many make to invalidate the efficacy and reliability of the COIVD-19 vaccine.

First, many individuals express their reluctance to receive the vaccine because they worry about the long-term risks. If anything, mRNA vaccines are less likely to trigger long-term autoimmunological responses. Foremost, mRNA’s structure allows the molecule to be more susceptible to hydrolysis (degradation), giving mRNA a short half-life. As a result, the vaccine can elicit an immunological response, just like an actual infection. Still, the proteins encoded (produced) upon vaccination would not remain in the body for long as they would if the individual naturally acquired the virus. Therefore, it’s unlikely for mRNA to hang out in the body long enough to produce a direct effect. I think it’s more conceivable to attribute any long-term/delayed effects to the individual’s immunological response rather than the vaccine itself.

I’d also like to address the fringe claims reporting a similarity between the spike protein sequence used in the vaccine and a syncytin-1, a protein crucial for placental development. The report argues that women should not consider the vaccine because not only will the antibodies neutralize the virus, but inadvertently placental development. To this, I ask the question: If a woman is naturally infected and subsequently produces antibodies against the virus, wouldn’t we observe a correlation between COVID-19 illness and miscarriage? Interestingly enough, we have data that dismisses this claim. According to the study, even those with severe COVID-19 symptoms during their first trimester did not predispose patients to early pregnancy miscarriage.

Kyria: Do what’s best for you!

Blake: Please trust that scientists and the governments of every major nation on earth aren’t injecting billions of people with some harmful or ineffective cocktail. Normalize trusting the science, doing our part, and stigmatizing Karens, Kevins, anti-vaxers, and anti-maskers. I know marginalized communities have reason to be hesitant, but that’s where community education and leadership can increase vaccination rates. This is how we save lives.

Dave: Please get the shot. The sooner you are safe, the sooner we are all safe.
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I am not an “anti-vaxer” lol. I am the one who says “sure” to everything the doctor recommends during my annual physical (after asking if it’s covered by my insurance of course! lol). When the vaccine becomes more “regular,” as in when it becomes a regularly given yearly vaccine like the flu shot, I think that’s when I’ll get it. Or, with my Gemini spirit I may just wake up one morning next week and sign up for it. Who knows!

All in all — do your own research. Do what makes YOU feel comfortable. And do everything you can to keep everyone else around you safe.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” — James 1:5, NKJV.

Moni Jay, Off the Record