Let go of negatives, and get vaccinated

Making a medical decision should ideally be based on the best, most up-to-date information. For more than 65 years, you have been choosing against one of the most important medical interventions we have, based on a single bad experience. I assure you that vaccine technology is much, much better now than it was in the 1950s.

Vaccines get your body’s immune system prepared to fight a specific infection. Infections are caused by germs, but “germs” is an imprecise term that includes microscopic invaders, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa and other parasites. However, all commercially available vaccines at present work against bacteria or viruses. Bacteria are microscopic organisms that live virtually everywhere. Viruses are structures of protein and nucleic acids that use the host cells to reproduce. Viruses take over the genetic information of a cell and force it to replicate viruses instead of performing the job of a cell.

Vaccines can be made to combat bacteria and viruses. A vaccine may use either attenuated strains of the bacteria or virus, or purified structures of the bacteria or virus.

Vaccines teach the immune system how to make antibodies to a particular infection and may also stimulate the cellular immune system. The way this works is complicated, and physicians spend months learning how the immune system works and how vaccines interact with the immune system. By contrast, vaccine scientists spend years or decades learning how to make safe vaccines.

At the time I write this, I know of many different teams trying heroically to develop a safe and effective vaccine against coronavirus. A vaccine could prevent millions of deaths. As a provider on the front line of taking care of these patients, I cannot express how much I look forward to a vaccine. As a person in their 80s, you should too.