Before I forget, go here for context.
Like I said in my last two articles, Anti-vaccine propaganda goes back centuries. Until the end of the 19th Century, distrust and skeptism of doctors and modern medicine was rightfully very high. That's because knowledge wasn't where it would get by the beginning of the second half of the 20th Century.
What's also true is unlike today, access to accurate and trustworthy information was different back in the day compared to now. I'll be blunt, there are some not just in the U.S. but most modern countries--especially in Western Europe--who are agressively trying to bring back certain customs and beliefs from the past and apply them to the present.
This might sound off-topic but one of the biggest lies that has been promoted by many "progressive" and "Liberal-minded" people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is the world can't feed all 8 Billion people on it. That's not true and won't be anytime soon. The problem is control of the distribution of resources is so concentrated in a handful of companies that put profits before everything else.
Right now, parts of East Africa and Central Africa are once again dealing with famine and mass migration sparked by regional conflicts. The vast majority of the people living in those regions are basically victims of circumstances they have no control of, let alone asked for.
...What if I told you there are people--mostly in developed nations--who are happy to know people are dying from famine and diseases? It's true and now they are being open about it both online and publicly. In their minds, the reason for all of the issues is because "there are too many of us" and by "us" I mean people. Their reasoning is "If there were less people in the world, that would mean there would be more resources for everyone else" which is actually a false equivalency.
So are the ideas "Vaccines go against the laws of nature" or "Vaccines go against the laws of nature". More so given Innoculation can be traced back thousands of years in several cultures worldwide. The earliest recorded case of Immunization in the U.S. took place during the Revolutionary War. Then General George Washington was losing more soldiers to Smallpox than enemy soldiers so he greenlit a daring idea: Innoculating healthy soldiers by intentionally introducing the pus from an infected person into the bloodstream of a healthy person. The idea was if they could introduce the virus into the bodies of healthy people, their bodies would build immunity ahead of future exposure. As we all know, it worked.
I need to be blunt: Those who continue to promote anti-vaccine misinformation and disinformation know there is no real evidence to back up their position so they use misdirection and scare tactics to reinforce and promote their position. Most anti-vaxxers will concede two of the major contributing factors to the world population recently passing 8 Billion is vaccines and access to modern medicine.
People are no longer dying by the millions every year to the Flu, Smallpox, the Measles and other stuff because of the vaccines for them. The strategy of the Anti-Vaxx Movement is and always has been to keep saying the same things over and over until they convince people that what they're saying is true despite proof of otherwise. It's all they have.
They know they won the info war for now but when people continue to see friends and family who are fully vaccinated totally fine while others they know who are unvaccinated getting sick or dying to COVID-19, the truth just can't be denied. It's only a matter of time.
Before I move on. We now know for sure that those who become infected with COVID-19 and recover do have some immunity for about 90 days (3 months) after they recover or 14 days after they quarantine. That's of course assuming you don't die or end up as one of the thousands of reported cases of people with longterm health sympthoms.
Is it worth "letting everyone get infected on purpose and just quarantine those who get sick or infected" as some are suggesting? Absolutely not. Yet, the same refrain from the Anti-Vaxx Movement is "anything but vaccines".
A friend of mine summed things up best by saying this: "COVID-19 opened the eyes of many but closed the eyes of many more." It's like the Climate Change and Systemic Racism denialism. Some people just don't want to face reality so they will gladly cling to lies and falsehoods because it feels good.
I now want to explain why Pfizer/BioTech and Moderna's mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are 2-shot vaccines and why you need to wait at least 3 weeks (Pfizer/Biotech) or 4 weeks (Moderna) between shots.
First and foremost, with single shot vaccines--not just COVID-19 but in general--it takes time for your body to build immunity. Most who've taken a Flu shot for example will start to experience a reaction either within 24 hours or a few days after getting their shot. That's totally normal and it means your body is responding as it should be. It also means your body is building immunity.
The reason the two mRNA vaccines are 2-shot vaccines is mainly for two reasons:
- The first shot will give you up to about 50% protection two weeks after getting it.
- The body needs time to reach that 50% threshhold before receiving the second shot.
What that means is two weeks after receiving your second shot, your body will have attained full vaccination status of 94.4% for Moderna and 95.1% for Pfizer/BioTech. Why are none of the vaccines offering 100% protection? That's easy: Everyone's different.
When I was sick with COVID-19 last year for example, I had a mild case. I did get sick but not severe enough to need to be hospitalized. I simply quarantined at home for two weeks. Like I mentioned above, those who recover have immunity for about 90 days. For me, that would have been until around this week last year.
COVID-19's vaccines offer protection for far longer and it's far safer to be vaccinated than hoping and praying the people you pass by while out is either fully vaccinated, not unknowingly infected or is at least following Health and Safety Protocols.
Getting back to my earlier point though. If you are within the 3 or 4 week window between your first and second shot or within the 1 or 2 week window after your second shot, you should behave as if you are not vaccinated. The same is true for Johnson & Johnson's vaccine. It takes a while for the full immunity it offers to kick in.
This is also why as of July 15, Los Angeles has reimposed mask mandates in response to rising cases among the unvaccinated. We do know both of the mRNA vaccines offer up to 67% protection against the Delta Variant first discovered in India. It's now the dominant strain in the U.S. and so far accounts for up to 60% of all new COVID-19 infections.
The Delta variant has also been the cause of Breakout cases. This is when people who are fully vaccinated get infected with COVID-19. That's totally normal regardless of pathogen. Most don't get sick and as the CDC already said, those who test positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated do not need to quarantine because even if they are sick, there is no risk of them infecting others. That's why vaccination is so important.
You do have a little leeway if you don't get your second shot exactly 3 or 4 weeks after your first one. You can wait up to 5 weeks between your Pfizer shots and up to 6 weeks between your Moderna shots but still be fully protected.
On June 11, Dr. Anthony Fauci said full FDA approval is "imminent" and the reason it hasn't happened yet is because the FDA is finalizing some things on their end. I take that to mean we could hear the announcement all 50 governors are (impatiently) waiting to hear by the end of this month if not sooner.
Why am I mentioning this?
Some Governors have said they can't issue a vaccine mandate--even though they'd like to--unless the vaccine is FDA approved. About 25% to 40% of the unvaccinated said they would get vaccinated if there was a mandate or they're given full FDA approval, whichever happens first so we'll see.
Like I pointed out earlier, it takes time for your body to build immunity regardless of weather you get one shot or two. This is why government officials practically begged people to get vaccinated for months. The longer people wait to get vaccinated, longer they are opening themselves up to getting infected.
I'll be blunt: FDA Approval is going to be announced any day now but the vaccines have been publicly available since December. Mass Vaccination sites are practicly empty at this point on top of it. Now would probably be the best time to get your first shot so that by the time September arrives, you're already fully vaccinated.
Once FDA Approval for the vaccines is formally given--again, it's expected to happen any time now--I am expecting to see a surge in vaccinations in some parts of the U.S. from some of the holdouts. The FDA recently announced approval for the use of the COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 12 is likely to come by mid-Fall the latest so there's that. As of now, anyone 12 and older including pregnant women can get vaccinated.
I almost forgot to say this but yes, you can be given a COVID-19 vaccine while hospitalized. Hopefully you don't wait until you're in that position to get a vaccine but I can confirm doctors can give you a vaccine while you're in the hospital if you (or your medical proxy) request or consent to it. Likewise, if you quarantined at home you can go to a vaccination center to receive your first or single shot.
I assume once full FDA Approval is granted, Employers will more readily give their employees paid time off so they can get vaccinated and take any time off they might need to deal with some of the mild side effects after getting their shot. This is on top of many employers already offering paid time off to those who become infected with COVID-19 so that they have the time they need to either hopefully recover or quarantine for 14 days.
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