I don’t know if you, after all the devastation and the massive vaccination-campaign efforts to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, are still doubting whether you should get vaccinated. Because I also work in public health, I had the opportunity to get vaccinated and without hesitation I did.
The COVID-19 vaccination has been made possible by a gigantic scientific effort to develop several vaccines in record time. Now, we must continue this campaign with the global distribution and application of hundreds of millions of doses.
However, doubts have been raised by some who say they are concerned with the long-term safety of the vaccine. And because of this, you may read on social and even mainstream media that this vaccine requires extended safety trials in several stages, over much longer periods of time.
In terms of global health, and despite the reluctance of small groups that share messages with dubious scientific basis, it is proven that the benefit of the wide application of vaccines is unquestionable.
The vaccines that are considered “safe” (influenza, triple viral) have incidents of serious adverse effects in one or two cases per million. This does not invalidate their protective nature, which, over time, has been widely demonstrated.
In contrast, the volunteers who took part in COVID-19 vaccine tests and trials number only in the thousands. And it’s due to the relatively low numbers of test subjects that uncertainty might arise about the vaccine’s efficacy.
But let me ask you this: Do we have time to wait while we continue to pile up dead bodies globally?
With regard to my own vaccination, many supported my decision while others strongly criticized it. In full disclosure, it was an easy decision to make, knowing that each person who is not vaccinated — even if the risk of contracting COVID-19 is low — puts the rest of those around them at risk: not only the most vulnerable sector of the population, but everyone.
Further, these were the five reasons that helped me make the choice of getting the vaccine:
First, I believe in scientific advances and understand that research methods are much more precise today, and research teams are more effective, than many years ago. Therefore, I understand that this vaccine would not have been possible to market and offer it to the general public if it didn’t meet the required health and safety guidelines.
Secondly, like any medical treatment or procedure, I understand that there is a level of risk. But knowing that the hospitalization rate associated with COVID-19 in the United States is 417.2 per 100,000 people, with the aggravating factor that the rates of hospitalizations are 3.2 times higher among Latinos compared to whites (based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data as of February 5), I consider that the risks associated with getting vaccinated pale in comparison with the possibility of having to live with the long-term consequences of COVID-19, or dying.
Third, since I believe in God, I am fully aware that He created us in His image and likeness, which makes me think that the intelligence of the scientists who were able to develop this vaccine so effectively comes exclusively from Him. I also believe that God’s timing is perfect, and if we were able to discover this treatment option now, coincidentally after so much devastation and millions of dead people, it’s because of His great mercy toward us, and that He teaches us that for him everything is possible. I would consider myself a very hypocritical Catholic, while I pray to God to help us fix this situation, if I rejected the help that science is providing me through this vaccine, to end this health crisis.
Fourth, in full knowledge of the situation of the people who live in developing countries who lack the resources to secure this marvel of modern medicine, I would feel awful refusing this benefit that so many of my brothers in other countries would give their life to receive, or might never be able to get.
Being a Colombian immigrant, sometimes I feel that people in this country think they know what poverty is, when I am very certain they do not. Sometimes I also feel that we often forget where we came from, and about the amount of misery that exists outside the United States, and that we abuse our newly-acquired position of privilege. I do not want to imagine the faces of disappointment from my family back in Colombia to know that due to my arrogance, I refused a long-awaited and desired benefit by so many around the world.
Finally, I want to help things get back to normal. I miss meeting people in person as part of my work or leisure. I miss eating out without fear of getting sick. I miss traveling and enjoying new experiences. But what I miss the most are the hugs from my 93-year-old grandmother, whom I haven’t seen for a year thanks to this virus. And for me, this is the most important reason, and it reinforces 100 percent that I did not make a mistake to get vaccinated.
Hopefully soon enough I can travel to Colombia to see her, and this eternal wait can be over.
Carolina Trujillo is the Community Relations director for Essex Media Group and publisher of its Spanish-language publication, La Voz.
