Not Even on TV
I’m not a doctor. I don’t even play one on TV, though there were times over the years where I had to give medical-like aid and advice on cross country trails miles away from trainers or medics. I am an interested “observer”, particularly of the intersection of science, medicine and politics. So I’ve done my best to understand the intricacies of our current national pandemic.
It doesn’t take a medical degree, or a doctorate in molecular biology, to understand our current situation. A viral infection is spreading across our nation. For many, infection is an inconvenience, like a bad cold. For some it is a serious health issue, with symptoms lasting for months. And for a few, infection results in hospitalization, intensive care treatment, and even death. A few is a relative term. There are more than 680,000 deaths to Covid in the United States, at a rate now accelerating to 1000 deaths a day, again.
This viral infection spreads through the air, person to person. And like most viruses, this virus goes through mutations. It is in that mutation process that our nation has reached a political crisis.
Genetic Mistakes
OK – so this when an old social studies teacher tries to explain science (I guess that’s better than math). Viruses don’t mutate because their “evil”. They mutate because there are “mistakes” in their genetic code when they replicate (that is, make more viruses). And most of those mistakes mean that the virus with the mistake doesn’t survive. But the more “replication”, the more opportunity for a “mistake” to be “good” for the virus (that means, in this case, bad for us).
So, for example, somewhere in the millions of people (more than 225 million worldwide) the original Covid-19 virus mutated to become more infective to humans. That mutation, the Delta variant, could infect more people, and therefore got the chance to replicate (reproduce) even more, and quickly became the dominant strain.
We know that the vaccines, particularly the MRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, are very effective against original Covid-19. We also know that they are still pretty effective against the Delta Variant. They are not quite as good at preventing people from catching it, though still pretty good – only 1 in 5000 vaccinated folks are likely to get a “break-through” (the vaccine) infection. And even those that get infected, have much better health outcomes.
So if everyone in the United States were vaccinated, there would be less infection, less death, and here’s the big one: less opportunity for the virus to mutate into a more effective killer. One more time: if fewer people can be infected with the virus, the virus is denied the opportunity to mutate into something worse.
Freedom’s Just a Word
I have discussions with my non-vaccinated friends. I’m glad they are still willing to talk, in our polarized society today it’s so easy to not even listen (that goes both ways). And their consistent statement goes like this:
“It’s OK that you want to be vaccinated. That’s your choice. But it’s my freedom to make a different choice. That’s my choice, not yours”.
Some even go so far as to put that thought into the language of the pro-choice movement: “My Body, My Choice”.
The United States has a long tradition of medical choice. We allow folks to sign Do Not Resuscitate orders, preventing hospitals from taking extraordinary steps to save their lives. We also allow those with terminal illnesses to determine when it’s time to stop treatment, and let the illness take its course. And we even have the Hospice movement, where folks are allowed to die without undue interference from the medical profession, given palliative care to keep them comfortable in their final hours and days.
But all of those choices have one thing in common. It’s about the fate of a single patient, making their own decision about their life and death. Even in the question of abortion, it is the decision of the woman about the fetus she is carrying. Without opening that debate, it’s still one and one, or depending on your belief, perhaps two.
Government and Vaccines
I am sixty-five (today!!). On the side of my left arm, between bicep and triceps, there is a small circular scar, hard to even see. It is a smallpox vaccination. My generation was one of the last to carry that scar, because by vaccinating everyone, we actually ended the disease. There was no one left to carry it onto someone else, and it disappeared. Smallpox was the scourge of civilizations for thousands of years. It wiped out cities and armies. In fact, George Washington, a scarred survivor of smallpox himself, required his Continental Army to be vaccinated with cow pox, a similar, less serious illness that provided protection from its deadly cousin.
The whole point is by vaccinating everyone for smallpox, it ended. Unfortunately we aren’t likely to be so “lucky” with Covid. We can all get vaccinated, but the virus will probably continue. But what we can do is reduce the opportunity for Covid variants that might make the vaccines ineffective.
But to do that, we have to reduce the spread of Covid. That requires vaccination. And here’s where the argument “My Body, My Choice” falls aside. Because it is your body, but your choice is impacting everyone else’s bodies. By allowing the spread of Covid, and the opportunity for more variants, you are threatening us all. We stop Covid variants by vaccinations that work, now, rather than wait for variants that can overwhelm the vaccine.
Fire in a Crowded Theatre
It is your body, but it is our national body. We require all sorts of vaccinations for highly transmissible diseases , from polio to measles, to mumps and the ubiquitous “rubella”. We have found ways to contain all of those “childhood” diseases in just my lifetime (I had measles, mumps, scarlet fever and chicken pox; the actual diseases). By doing so, we prevented countless injuries and deaths.
Yep, the Covid vaccine is new. We don’t have long-term, ten-year studies on the impact of the vaccine. And we don’t have long-term, ten-year studies on the impact of having Covid either. But we do know that Covid kills people now, and with the wrong variant, could kill a whole lot more. And we know how to stop it.
There’s a famous line about the freedom of speech: you can’t yell FIRE in a crowded theatre. That’s because the ensuing panic might injure many. And there’s another famous line: your freedom of action ends when your fist hits my nose. When it comes to Covid vaccination, “My Body, My Choice” means we all are in danger. Those who claim that are yelling Fire, and punching the rest of us square in the nose.
And that’s why it’s different.
