I am mad as hell at the unvaxxed

Imagine what the world would be like if vaccines had not been found

I am mad as hell. For 18 months our lives have been upended by a powerful virus. Just as we thought we might be getting back to our pre-pandemic lives, we're hit by a fourth wave of infections.

Nature follows no rules but its own.

I'm not mad at our institutions. Since Day 1, politicians did what they thought was right. They took scientific advice from public health and infectious disease specialists while trying to keep some of the economy going. For myself, I would have hoped for a complete lockdown as soon as the virus hit our shores.

Where we would be today had we done so? I'm mad at people who, for egoistical reasons, refuse to be vaccinated, a minority in Quebec. A doctor on radio explained that very few people have valid medical reasons to skip vaccination.

There are three categories of refuseniks. The first is made up of sad souls who, among other nonsense, believe that Bill Gates is inserting microchips in people to control the human race. You can't talk to those people. They are prisoners of their beliefs.

The second lot is made up of people who refuse the vaccine in the name of some convoluted view of personal freedom. They have never heard of poet John Donne's 400-year-old saying, which still resonates today: “No man is an island entire of itself.”

In other words, their personal freedom ends where ours begin.

They don't give a fig if our health system is decomposing when intensive care beds for cancer patients are given to the wilfully unvaccinated.

Then there is the side-effects cohort, who fear medical consequences. They don't trust science. No drug or treatment is free of rare yet possible side effects. Even with Tylenol (acetaminophen), about a dozen potential adverse reactions are listed, including the possibility of fatal overdoses and allergic reactions. So let's get real.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, some 60 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have found their way into Canadian arms. Serious side-effects numbers are minuscule. Health Infobase Canada reports 189 deaths following immunization in Canada and adds: “Although these deaths occurred after being vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine, they are not necessarily related to the vaccine.”

But we know that COVID-19 was likely the third leading cause of death in Canada in 2020, right after cancer and heart disease. Imagine what the world would be like if vaccines had not been found.

You, the ideologically unvaccinated, are stopping humanity's walk back to normality. You are in the way of children enjoying school. The elderly don't want to see you. Sorry, you are scary.

It's a mystery to me that some people who work in health care won't get vaccinated. If that is your case, read on. Imagine your mother in the hospital fighting a deadly infection. Her immune system is weak. Doctors are not optimistic but hopeful.

Until an unvaccinated and asymptomatic nurse, unaware that she has COVID, walks into your mom's room, fusses with her pillows, fixes the IV, shares a joke or two. This nurse is so good with patients. No one would guess, including herself, that she's an angel of death. She leaves, unconcerned, to the next room but your 75-year-old mother was infected with the coronavirus when she lifted her mask to scratch her nose.

Why can't these people accept that bypassing vaccination puts us all at risk? Why don't they care about anyone else but themselves? “Every man for himself ” is not acceptable.

The world is edging toward 5 million deaths from COVID-19. When are we all going to get the message?

Think about this: Millions of huge venomous spiders invade Earth. The only protection against their painful bite is a new vaccine. What would you do?

But to those who are vaccinated, I say: “Thank you, merci” from the bottom of my heart.