It’s time to address the stupid in the room. The stupid is real and the stupid is strong.
As of this morning 719,674 Americans have died of COVID. There have been 44,490,897 cases. 13% of the population have gotten it, including yours truly. The percentage of the overall population that have gotten it and died is .2%. The percentage of people who have gotten it and died is 1.6%. Your chances of getting it and dying are slim, but your chances of dying once you get it increase eight fold.
And the bottom line is those numbers don’t mean shit when it’s your husband, wife, father, daughter lying in that hospital bed. The number for you is one. The one you love is fighting for their life.
Let’s talk about the vaccine. A full 2% experience some sort of reaction to the vaccine. That clears relatively quickly, it would be a headache, etc. Severe reaction to the vaccine is currently occurring at a rate of .0247%. You are 10 times more likely to die from COVID than have a severe reaction to the vaccine. The rate of death from the vaccine is .0019%. I have two friends who have had severe reactions to the vaccine. One was in a damned if you do damned if you don’t high risk category. She has severe asthma and allergies. COVID could have easily killed her if she got it. The shot was just as dangerous. She ended up with the cascading systemic collapse syndrome. Luckily, she had great health care and they intervened and now she’s fine. The other one’s blood thickened after the second shot and they’re still working through it. And I know a ton of people. Way more are no longer walking this planet because they got COVID and didn’t make it, than those who had a reaction to the vaccine.
Now, you don’t know what that vaccine is going to do to you long term. Neither do I. Neither do they. They’ve been testing the technology for 13 years before they discovered that it worked with COVID so it’s not brand new. But COVID-19 is a novel virus and we just don’t know. So stop pretending that you do. Unless you’re one of the top scientists in the country, sit down. And quit being a jackass.
Did you know that in 1688 they figured out that chicken pox was a different disease than small pox? That wasn’t definitively proven until 1767. Up until that point they thought they were different variations of the same disease. It is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. There were lots of complications from it including pneumonia. In 1888 it was discovered that children exposed to adults with shingles got chicken pox. It wasn’t until 1954 that it was discovered that the varicella virus caused both.
Do we really think we know what this novel virus is going to do to patients long term? Twenty years from now will my blood thicken one day and choke me out? Will a twenty two year old who had COVID last year have children prone to a certain birth defect? Will the vaccine cause that 10 years from now? 20 years? We just don’t know.
What I do know. In 2017 when I had pneumonia, the hospital staff wore masks around me. And they had me buy masks to wear if I went in public 10 days after I was released because they destroyed my immune system killing the disease and saving my life. So don’t tell me masks don’t work. They’re not 100% but they help. A lot. Nothing is 100% so stop pretending like that’s the benchmark. Four years before some right wing douchebag Sean Hannity wannabe radio host told you that masks don’t work, actual medical professionals had me wear one. Serious, STFU. Side note: I’ve counted nine right wing anti-vaxxer radio hosts who have contracted and died from the virus while renouncing their previous positions on their death beds. Why are you listening to these douche nozzles? Don’t tell me your system will protect you. It won’t. I was in the shape of my life when I came down with COVID. I’d done 75 days without sugar, alcohol, grain and had worked out twice a day. My body was a machine. And two days later I woke up with COVID. I had a mild case that I still have residual symptoms from, but yeah, it’s just like a cold. Idiots.
Let’s quit being stupid. If you are not going to get the vaccine, don’t. But don’t make up some fake piece of shit card so you can do what you want. You gave up the ability to go to places that require a vaccine when you chose not to get the shot. End of story. That’s your choice, but you don’t get have your cake and eat it too. And put on a freaking mask. You’re the problem right now.