What’s it gonna take?

Dec. 17 St. Cloud Times

What’s it gonna take?

When the first COVID-19 vaccine was offered roughly one year ago, vaccine-hesitant people said, with some logic, that emergency authorization wasn’t enough them and that wanted FDA approval before they took it.

After the vaccines got that FDA approval, the hesitant said they wanted to wait longer to see any long-term side effects.

Others say they’ve already had COVID, recovered just fine, and they don’t need a vaccine to protect themselves, and people who get vaccinated get sick, too.

The statement appears in every Facebook fight, every set of talking heads when vaccination is the topic: I choose this for myself, and it doesn’t affect anyone else — let them get vaccinated if they want. Who does it hurt?

All of us.

Reason 1: Unvaccinated people are far more likely to contract, become sick from and spread COVID-19. That means, without doubt, that they are more likely than healthy people to own the body where the virus mutates into a form that current vaccines and treatments can’t help.

That’s a direct line of cause and effect: Ill people are, by definition, more likely to foster dangerous mutations than people who are not infected. Mutations put even vaccinated people at risk. So taking all reasonable steps to keep from being “that guy” is vitally important and morally sound. It’s a choice that affects everyone.

That argument is not a hypothetical scare tactic. It’s happening now:

• On Tuesday, Eli Lilly and Regeneron announced that their own lab studies showed the omicron variant defeats their monoclonal antibody cocktail. That treatment worked well against earlier variants. Another company says its protocol does work against omicron, but what about the next variant? And can one company make enough for all of us?

• On Friday, Pfizer said its vaccines aren’t protecting children from 3-5 years old in their tests, so they’re going to attempt a three-shot series. We have not yet solved all of COVID’s mysteries, so limiting its ability to brew up more surprises seems like an easy call.

Vaccination decisions matter, and that message has been clear for months. Immune-compromised people, infants and children simply aren’t able to do it for themselves so we have to do it for them. And the longer we wait, the more likely our current defenses will be defeated, putting everyone back in that unprotected boat.

Aside from COVID-19, real people in our community are having important health care, including surgeries, delayed by the glut of COVID patients clogging our hospitals. If they’re lucky enough to avoid serious health consequences, they will still take a financial hit as the insurance year, and its associated deductible limits, turn over in less than two weeks.

And that hospital crowding? Are staffing issues to blame? Yes, in part. Health systems have mandated that their workers be vaccinated or they will not be allowed to work. Some workers have availed themselves of that option. But skilled medical staff are overwhelmingly vaccinated. In September, before FDA approval of COVID-19 vaccines, 88% of nurses and 96% of physicians in American had already been vaccinated or said they planned to, according to surveys by the American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association.

So let’s liken our current strategy against COVID-19 to sports: Half of the offensive linemen are, at the snap, casually standing up and watching the defensive line burst forward and sack the quarterback — over and over.

While no line of defense, including the vaccine, is perfect, the protection is better when all the players put in some effort. “Well, the quarterback sometimes gets sacked even when we try, so what’s the point?” That’s not how we will crawl out of this mess. Are you “that guy?”

So now that the vaccine has been around for more than a year with no widespread side effects. The virus is starting to out-evolve our defenses. Our medical personnel are literally begging for cooperation, so what’s it going to take?

The experts have urged, explained, put up prizes and gift cards, scolded, made getting the vaccine more convenient (in addition to free), and are making it more inconvenient to not be vaccinated.

Please at least consider what it will take to make you, personally, change your mind. More research? More studies? You’ve been given you that. More deaths and cases? You’ve gotten that, too — 800,000 deaths in the U.S. so far, with more than 10,000 of them in Minnesota.

So, what’s it gonna take?

Dig in. If we’re all supposed to be on the same team — and we are — it’s time to defend one another. Take care this holiday season. We’d like to see you around for the next.