Over 99.99% of Americans who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 have not had a breakthrough case that resulted in hospitalization or death, according to scientific data analyzed by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Just so we’re clear, according to scientists and doctors who specialize in studying communicable diseases, if you get vaccinated you may still contract the coronavirus, but you will not get sick enough to require hospitalization. The coronavirus will not kill you—if you get your shot.
However, if you still refuse to get vaccinated because you trust the word of anti-vaxxer TV and Internet personalities or your friend from high school who failed biology but knows more about virology than Dr. Fauci (a doctor who has dedicated his life to understanding transmittable diseases), then you stand a pretty good chance of contracting the Delta variant of the virus that is more contagious, makes people sicker, and is proving much deadlier than variants that pushed hospitals to the breaking point last year.
Hospitals in Springfield, Lake of the Ozarks, Jefferson City, and Columbia are at or near capacity for treating Covid patients, and with the strain on the medical system, people who need treatments for other conditions are being moved to the back burner. By refusing to get vaccinated, selfish Missourians are overwhelming hospitals and therefore jeopardizing the health and lives of innocent people who may experience delays in medical care.
If you still haven’t been vaccinated, I have to ask: Why not? This pandemic is not magically going away, despite what the former president claimed a year and a half ago. Almost 35 million people have been infected in the United States to date, and over 610,000 of those people have died. Nearly 200 million people have been infected worldwide, with an estimated 4.2 million deaths. So far. And things are getting worse by the day. Why wouldn’t you do everything you can to protect yourself and your loved ones by getting the vaccine?
On the same day that Steve Edwards, CEO of CoxHealth in Springfield reported 15 Covid deaths over a three-day period, Republican Missouri governor, Mike Parson, voiced his opposition to mask mandates, saying that they erode the public’s trust in vaccines. It has become apparent that the vaccinated can contract and spread the disease, even if they do not become symptomatic, which means that masks are a good idea to help slow transmission and to keep the unvaccinated protected.
All 72 of the Springfield hospital’s Covid deaths in July were unvaccinated patients. I would bet that many of those people were anti-maskers, too.
The Republican governor of Florida just signed an executive order allowing people to ignore mask mandates in school, which will be starting soon, despite his state setting a new record for Covid-19 hospitalizations the very same week. While the Delta variant runs rampant through his state, Governor DeSantis is inexplicably making school children and teachers less protected from the virus.
But the greater concern is the elderly. The Delta variant is particularly dangerous to people aged 65 and over. Yet a lot of older folks and their families refuse to get vaccinated. Why? In Missouri, Florida, and other majority-Republican states, a large amount of the population thinks mask mandates and mass-vaccinations are government overreach and a violation of personal liberty. It is no coincidence that these same states lead the nation in new infections. And deaths.
Let me be blunt: The Coronavirus is not a political issue. The virus does not care if you believe ridiculous anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories or if wearing a mask makes you feel oppressed. If you don’t get vaccinated, the odds are good that you will eventually catch this virus. You may get very sick. You may be placed in a medically-induced coma and put on a ventilator. And you may die an excruciating, suffocating, and completely preventable death.
Get vaccinated. Mask-up in crowded places. Wash your hands. Take these easy steps to protect yourself, your family, and people who legitimately can’t get vaccinated due to their age or underlying medical issues.
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