20210823 : My Vaccination

Many of you, many times, in many ways have told me to get the Vaccination. I had my uncle and aunt come home and threaten me recently.

My wife has tried and tried and has given up. My mother comes everyday and tells me in many ways.

So I thought you should know my logic - right or wrong..

I am neither encouraging or discouraging individual choices. I hope it won't influence your decision.

Actually, Its very easy to give me the shot. Just don't have to take my view and give the jab. There is no way I can resist.

I am relying on (primarily) my wife's conscience as my ally in this .

There are three parts to my thinking:

#1. 

This is my weakest argument.

Like many of you, I have been watching about the evolution of the vaccines. There is nothing wrong with the science.

Im not yet convinced of the amount of data especially length of time we have data.

We all know how quickly they were devised and I think every one of them have been approved on emergency basis.

I have seen too much Netflix and generally know too much to ignore the business angle of the whole thing. There is too much incentive to push it even if not fully ready. Booster shots every few months means the cash register is ringing always.

Give the available data to a seasoned statistician and he/she will make it sing any tune.

Also, nobody has connected all the dots wrt unintended consequences. Nobody knows the long term effects simply because it hasn't been long enough.

That's the skeptic in me speaking.

That said, all evidence has shown that it helps. It helps, not to get total immunity, but definitely to dampen the impact of the attack.

It's probably the best chance to protect oneself right now.

#2.

This is very specific to me. One that has had some doubts cast (recently) on the original thinking.

The virus, in many cases, has been very swift. Could be the individual variant, the individual's immunity, so on. But it has proven to be a swift operator in those cases.

If you know my condition, what is the prediction. A very swift and efficient job done.

However, give the vaccine and it will weaken the virus. By how much? I don't know. But given my state, it will still do the job, but will take a while.

 It can be a swift thingy with no protest. That's the best case scenario. Both for me and everyone around me.

 The alternative is a long drawn battle, lots of struggles, finally being dragged to the same place, only kicking and screaming. That's the second best case scenario.

The last is making it through. But I have seen enough about the "long covid" stories to send shivers. Very healthy and strong people have been brought to their knees. They are still battling other effects.

In a nutshell, I will have many more complications than I already am blessed with. I surely won't be able to handle more setbacks. It is better to not be able to survive that way.

As I said earlier, this thinking has been shaken a bit...

Few days back, we got my blood tests done. The works. The results, along with all else, said that I have enough antibodies for covid.

The leading speculation is, sometime back, when the nurses had covid, I was infected too but was completely asymptomatic.

There is no other way to explain the antibodies!

I am very glad we did not take it casually and kept me in strict isolation for 12 days or so.

I would have to carry the burden of infecting others otherwise.

As I said, this is purely speculations

#3.

This is a moral issue for me. This is valid and very reinforced also by the above speculation.

It has been proven, beyond doubt, that the jab is not total immunity. It doesn't even reduce the chances of getting infected, except, vaccinated persons will have lower impact. 

The trouble for me starts because vaccinated and infected folks have a much higher probability of being asymptomatic.

In effect, the F16 suddenly became a stealth bomber.

What could be identified as a potential carrier earlier, will be fully camouflaged now.

It's still good if we are staying in a dwelling where everyone is eligible/ vaccinated. I can also accept it if there are folks who have made an individual choice not to be vaccinated. 

But when there are folks who don't have that choice, I don't think its a level playing field anymore.

I am juggling enough guilt and regret already. I can't handle another one.

So a little bit of #1, a little bit of #2 and whole lot of #3.

My overall decision stands unchanged. I shall wait...