By Don Aguiar

Mumbai: Have been reading about the vaccine in almost every newspaper including a dozen professional newspapers.

When Covid was running amok and spreading like wild fire every one of us were praying for a vaccine, as early as possible. Even now it’s in its 2nd peak in many countries like USA and UK. But suddenly we hear from almost every Whatsapp university certified specialist question the speed with which some vaccine was approved.

I guess that’s basic human nature where in when we are starving we might eat anything but when the same hungry person is given a choice then he forgets the hunger and starts analyzing which of the choice is better. The human mind always wants more, isn’t it!!

Suddenly everyone knows about phase 2 or phase 3 vaccine trials and starts comparing the efficacy rates, complications incidence and ADI…. adverse drug events . Such information is purely in research scientific domain but unfortunately today it’s become Whatsapp time pass.

Whether you want to be vaccinated or not is purely your choice. That’s the only fact that you need to know. Everything else is relative.

Your choice doesn’t depend on the vaccine its effectiveness or side effects but on your assessment of your risk of dying from Covid. If you feel fairly comfortable with the assessment that you will not die of Covid then you don’t need any vaccine. Every medicine you and your family have taken so far has so many side effects including irreversible kidney failure.

Every antibiotic you have taken could’ve caused allergic reaction that could have killed you. Every anesthesia that someone in your family had before surgery could have caused complications like Paralysis of the breathing leading to death.

Mind you these are complications known to doctors for so many years. yet they chose to give you these treatments. More importantly any child who got the measles vaccine could have become permanently a vegetable due to a condition called sub acute sclerosing pan encephalitis – SSPE– yet your pediatrician gave your precious children this vaccine.

Nobody thinks twice about taking chemotherapy for cancer or blood thinners or aspirin to prevent cardiac disease. These drugs can and do/cause far worse complications that any vaccine. Suddenly people read something on WhatsApp and think they have become super specialist docs. People are alive and well today because your parents gave you polio and small pox and other vaccines without asking questions.

Does it sound intriguing to you that your own trusted doctor gave you something that could’ve potentially killed or paralyzed you permanently? Wake up people. No medicine is 100 percent safe.

Every treatment offered by your doctor is done in extreme good faith to make you better. Doctors operate on a principal of risk versus benefit. If the potential benefit outweighs the risk considerably then they give this in good faith. The reason they follow this approach is that they are not God, and they are still very far from giving 100 percent safe treatment for every disease.

Coming back to the safety of the Covid vaccines…

All the vaccines have been approved on an emergency use authorization only.

This means that the scientific community have not had adequate time to analyse the safety and effectiveness of all these currently available vaccines. In spite of the best of their Efforts Knowledge and Resources. So it’s up to you to realise whether you are in an emergency or not.

All governments around the world know that you are in an emergency that’s why you are offered the option for vaccine. How did the government know that? Is by looking at the millions of deaths caused by Covid in just one year.

If you in your WhatsApp university educated PhD mind feel that you are not in any emergency then you deny yourself that vaccine. But you take that extra risk which your neighbors haven’t taken. That’s the bottom line.

Is the vaccine the solution for this Covid pandemic?

Any vaccine, including all the Covid vaccines, is a part of the solution. No vaccine can protect against any disease 100 percent of the time. This is from experience with viral infections like polio, measles, influenza and HIV. Covid vaccines are presently labelled preventive and not curative which means that you take the vaccine when you are ok to prevent from getting Covid. If you have Covid the vaccine cannot cure you.

A good N95 mask worn with 6 feet social distancing and hand hygiene can protect you 100 percent from Covid.

Unfortunately we are tired of following the above after 1 year of trial. The most difficult thing to implement is the 6 feet social distancing because we are social animals. We like to meet with fellow humans all the time. We cannot live in isolation or lockdown for much longer not because of the economic impact but more so due the mental distress that caused by social distancing.

The vaccine is an easier way of attaining the herd immunity than the natural infection caused by corona virus. Any Covid vaccine is safer than getting infected with the virus and fighting for survival in an ICU with a ventilator in your throat. A vaccine is an additional safety like a helmet for a 2 wheeler bike rider but has to be used with safe driving practice.

The best helmet cannot save you if you are a rash driver but can protect your head from an accidental fall. Look at the COVID vaccine as an additional safety measure along with masks, social distancing and hand hygiene, not as a replacement. This we have to accept until the world develops herd immunity from Covid just like small pox or polio.

If you feel you are a safe driver who does not need a helmet and can strictly follow the 3 important steps – mask, 6 feet distancing and Hand hygiene- that will 100 percent protect you, then you probably can stay away from the vaccine until you are convinced. But that’s a decision only you have to take, not look for advice and validation from WhatsApp university.

A herd immunity is the only sure shot way to eliminate Covid from the world we live in. The reality is each one of us is part of this herd & it’s in each one of our hands to help reach the herd immunity as soon as possible.

Either get infected or get vaccinated…. or stay forever in a bubble distanced from other people. The choice is yours.

There will always be a doubt when something new is introduced. It is the duty of the experts to convince rather than ridicule/be rude to the one that doubts. In today’s world the good, the bad and the ugly are available on the internet which causes confusion.