Love in the Time of COVID
While I try to stay away from rather divisive topics, I wanted to share this particularly gut-wrenching experience I had recently.
I was in the ER a few days ago for Bronchitis and a Respiratory Infection (don’t worry, I’m fine!). As we were being taken back, there were a substantial number of beds lining the hallways with makeshift rooms being set-up for patient privacy. I ended up sharing a “room” with a middle-aged woman and her daughter. While the doctor was treating me, another doctor came to talk to the woman. He proceeded to tell her that the tests they did on her heart were extremely concerning and they needed to admit her immediately. Unfortunately, all of the beds upstairs were full so she had one of two options: To either be taken upstairs and placed in the hallway waiting for a room, or she could remain in her space at the ER until something opened up. She inquired about being transferred to El Paso, at which point the doctor informed her she’d be in even worse shape there because they’re far more overcrowded. When she asked why, he told her that almost every single patient admitted right now is suffering from a life-threatening case of COVID. It was absolutely soul crushing to listen to this panicked woman go over her options as the doctor was doing his best to tell her they’d take care of her in any way they could.
In light of that experience, I felt like sharing my thoughts on some of the things I hear over and over again regarding COVID and the vaccine:
1. ‘It’s just a cold, I don’t know why we’re still freaking out about this.” If this is something you stand by and then rush to the hospital for treatment because you can’t breathe instead of “waiting it out like a cold,” then you are an absolute hypocrite. I’ve never been to a hospital more overcrowded and filled with doctors desperately doing their best to keep everything afloat with not enough resources to treat everyone. It was horrifying.
2. “Well I don’t trust the doctors recommending the vaccine – they’re probably trying to line their pockets.” If you’re willing to believe this, and yet turn around and allow that same doctor to intubate you, perform surgery on you, or pump you full of life-saving medications (which, let’s be honest, neither of us really knows what any of those drugs are or what the side effects are so long as we get better and live) then you need to seriously re-evaluate your trust of doctors.
3. “Well I could still get COVID and potentially pass it onto someone else like my unvaccinated child.” This is a correct assumption. The vaccine will not prevent you from contracting COVID much like the getting the measles shot does not 100% guarantee you won’t contract measles. It WILL, however, prevent you from having blindness, brain damage, or death as a result. Yes, you can still pass COVID on to your child, but I would argue that I’d rather have cold-like symptoms and be able to care for my child than put my family through possible intubation, permanent lung damage, or worse in addition to not being able to care for my child.
4. “I heard it causes infertility.” There is absolutely ZERO proof that any COVID vaccine will make you sterile. Here are just a few articles from medical institutions dispelling that belief in addition to an actual peer reviewed journal:
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jom-2021-0059/html
https://baptisthealth.net/baptist-health-news/the-truth-about-covid-19-vaccines-and-infertility/
https://www.muhealth.org/our-stories/does-covid-19-vaccine-affect-fertility-heres-what-experts-say
COVID itself, however, HAS been linked to possible fertility issues in men, resulting in many medical institutions pushing even harder for vaccination:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32814369/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/andr.12859
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43032-020-00261-z
Bottom Line: If you can get the vaccine, please do so. If you’re worried, do real research outside of just Google searches and social media memes.
Here’s a non-biased website that provides a substantial number of medical research journals out there regarding COVID.
https://asm.org/COVID/COVID-19-Research-Registry/Prevention#
If you’d like to search for more specific topics, try Google Scholar – it’s easy to use, and the articles can be easier to understand. The harsh truth of this rather awful situation is that your decision could be what results in your hospitalization and someone like that poor woman next to me not being able to get the care they need.
