Getting the jab is responsible option

Now that the “covidiots” have stopped claiming that the global coronavirus pandemic and millions of deaths and infections are a hoax, they’re casting doubt about Covid-19 vaccines. The result of this fake news – spread like a raging bushfire via social media platforms – is that a disturbing proportion of people in this country are saying they will refuse to be vaccinated.

This is their constitutional right, as President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised on Monday night when assuring South Africans that they would not be forced to be inoculated.

Most of the reasons for vaccine refusal have been soundly debunked by science. Yes, the vaccines have been developed faster than any in history but medical technology has never been more advanced and the number of people and organisations committed to finding vaccines has never been greater.

Yes, some people – a tiny minority – have had sideeffects, but most of these have been mild and few people have actually died. So, a vaccine will not kill you or put you in hospital, statistically speaking.

Nor will the injected vaccine contain ingredients which will either modify your body’s DNA, or implant a microchip inside you which will enable you to be tracked by some nefarious “New World Order”.

What taking the vaccine will do is reduce the chances of your becoming gravely ill if you are infected. It will also reduce the chances of acquiring the infection in the first place.

But most importantly, getting the jab will help you build up immunity as part of a greater move to overall “herd” immunity (or community immunity as Ramaphosa prefers to call it). When that is achieved, the virus will recede and fewer people will be hospitalised or die.

Refusing the vaccine may be your right – but taking it is your responsibility as a caring citizen.