Picture this: I am a pro-vaxer

By now we all know the ridiculous narrative of the anti-vaxer: they’re trying to control us, they’re trying to track us, they’re trying to force us to put something in our bodies, and on and on.

Anyone who has had COVID-19, and I have, knows that you don’t want it. In fact, I feel very certain that vaccination was one of the reasons I was able to weather my COVID storm as well as I did. I never once felt like my life was in danger or that I needed to go to the hospital.

I know more than a few people who declined being vaccinated who later got very, very sick, usually with lasting after-effects, known as “long COVID.”

My sister Nicole has a pet theory about this: it’s all about fear of needles, and all the “boogieman” arguments against COVID vaccination are built up by a secret, but very real, fear of the jab. 

Vaccines have been with us for nearly a century, and are responsible for controlling or even eradicating some of the worst diseases in human history, like smallpox, which was eliminated in 1980, and polio, which, thanks to organizations like Rotary International, of which I am a member, is on the verge of being eradicated, with just a handful of cases in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

My vaccine booster came with the usual vaccination result: a sore arm, which I take to mean that it is working.

So let me say this one more time: get vaccinated, get your booster.