By Eric W. Schoen
I apologize to those of you who have already received your COVID vaccinations. I hope you still find this column informative. Sadly, over 30% of your friends, your neighbors, your relatives, people you love dearly have not gotten their vaccines. In some parts of the country including right over the Mario Cuomo-Tappan Zee Bridge the number of unvaccinated is much greater.
Isn’t it a shame that after the early shortage of vaccines we have more vaccines and we are not using them? Remember the scramble to get an appointment for a vaccine, sitting for hours at your computer and spending hours on the phone to get an appointment. That craziness is all gone now.
Simply no one can say they don’t know where to get the vaccine. CVS, Walgreens, even many small, old school pharmacies that are not part of a conglomerate offer the vaccine free of charge. Many organizations like the Yonkers Office for the Aging and Scarsdale Fire Department have partnered with health organizations to bring vaccines to the home bound elderly. You can get a vaccine at Grand Central Station while you are waiting for a train!
I’m tired of the politicians saying people don’t know where to go for a vaccine. Maybe that’s a problem in Arkansas, one of the states with the lowest vaccine rate. But no one in this neck of the woods can say they don’t know where a vaccine is available. Sadly, at press time Governor Cuomo closed the vaccine facility at Jones Beach due to lack of business. I was hoping that sun worshipers would be able to get the vaccine as they worked on their tan.
Let me be clear. If you have a medical reason why you can’t get the vaccine I hear you. Religious reasons I’m a little skeptical about. But the numbers of people who claim they can’t get vaccinated because of religious reasons are very small.
I think President Biden’s key Covid advisor said it best. ‘If we had had the pushback for vaccines that we’re seeing in certain media … we probably would still have smallpox and we’d probably still have polio in this country if we had the false information that’s being spread now,” Fauci told CNN’s Jim Acosta in an interview over the weekend. “If we had that back decades ago, I would be certain that we’d still have polio in this country.”
The internet. A wonderful device to get information. Sadly there is a lot of misinformation out there. Don’t blame former President Donald Trump. He got vaccinated. Don’t blame President Biden. He got vaccinated. Don’t blame Conservative television and radio host Sean Hannity. As we go to press he is encouraging his minions to get vaccinated.
Blame idiots like Robert Kennedy, Jr. for spreading the anti-vaccination message. His poor father who we lost so young and his uncles are rolling over in their graves when he tells people not to get the common vaccines that have kept this country safe. Sadly because he is a ‘Kennedy’ (and I have great respect for the rest of his family) he gets media coverage far beyond what he deserves.
Before we put some myths to rest, let’s take a moment to thank the scientists and medical professionals who so quickly developed the Covid 19 vaccine. Do you remember how many lives were lost before the vaccine was widely distributed. And a big thank you to the health care professionals and those who put their lives at risk to keep us healthy, safe and secure. Everyone who was honored at the ticker tape parade in New York City deserved the accolades they received.
Now let’s put some myths to rest. Misinformation you may have gotten off the internet. Or from someone you know. If you get the Covid vaccine you are not going to grow 2 heads. You may need a booster shot after 6 months or a year. Do you get a flu shot every year. It’s the same thing.
If you had the coronavirus you still should get vaccinated to protect you from the new variants. Vaccines can not make you infertile or cause issues in pregnancy. People who are pregnant are at much higher risk of severe symptoms or death if they get COVID-19. That’s why specialists recommend anyone who wants to conceive in the future get the shot now, as well as anyone currently pregnant or breastfeeding.
The vaccine can make you sick. Yes, you might not feel good–but that’s just your immune system at work.“It’s a small one to two day sense of illness. It is usually lasts about a day and it is far, far, far better than having a disease,” said Patsy Stinchfield, head of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. “Those things are to be expected. And what is happening is your immune system is responding. It sees the bad guy. It’s making the good guys.”
The vaccine does not change your genetic makeup. It does train your cells to respond to infection, but it doesn’t change your DNA. Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine does not cause you to be magnetic. For females, your menstrual cycle cannot be affected by being near someone who received a COVID-19 vaccine.
None of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States shed or release any of their components. Vaccine shedding is the term used to describe the release or discharge of any of the vaccine components in or outside of the body. Vaccine shedding can only occur when a vaccine contains a weakened version of the virus. None of the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. contain a live virus. This means that a COVID-19 vaccine cannot make you sick with COVID-19.
Some feel The vaccine was developed too quickly to be safe. There were no shortcuts in the vaccine process, but Operation Warp speed (occurring during the Trump administration. Again, he took the vaccine) made it more efficient. “The emergency use authorization, all it did was speed up the administration and production parts, it actually did not cut any corners on safety,” said Dr. JoAnn Jose, St. Louis University Hospital infectious disease specialist.
If you have been vaccinated and by chance are around someone who has COVID-19, you do not need to get tested or stay away from others unless you have symptoms.
Companies can mandate employees be vaccinated. Fine with me. As far as I am concerned they should have that right. The Bruce Springsteen Show was the first show to open on Broadway.Want to see it? You better bring proof of vaccine when you go to the theater. As far as I am concerned, you want to go to theater, attend concerts, attend indoor and outdoor events with large crowds? The organizers should demand proof of vaccination.
I am not a doctor. You need to contact yours to see if there is any reason you should not be vaccinated. Do we really want to be ‘locked down’ as we were a year ago. Do you care about the health of the ones you love? And your own health?
As the Governor of New Jersey said, ‘we have a pandemic among the unvaccinated.’ Get the damn vaccine already!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers.
Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
