Thought for today…I Remember Polio..
I recently celebrated my 76th birthday, and as a child growing up in Trinidad in the 1950s, I remember the sadness of children paralyzed by polio.
I also remember outbreaks of measles and mumps and even chickenpox which , though not eliminated has been under control for decades, and it’s occurrence dramatically reduced.
These diseases and others are not major features of a modern day life experience, because they have been controlled and in some cases eliminated by the use of vaccines.
Most of these vaccines were administered to us as children, in an era of no social media and when the opinions of medical experts and scientists were respected.
Though vaccine hesitancy is somewhat understandable especially in their early usage, there’s overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines are safe and reliable , and the World Health Organization considers vaccine hesitancy one of the top ten global health threats.
One of the reasons for COVID vaccine hesitancy is the fact that scientists came up with vaccines so quickly; but that is a tribute to modern science and technical efficiency, not a cause for concern.
Some of the applied research had already been done on other coronaviruses, and because of the severity of the outbreak it was easy to recruit and enlist the required amount of patients for testing.
The work was done fairly quickly by some of the world’s top scientists and it was primarily a matter awaiting results and regulatory approvals.
The bottom line is that the COVID vaccines are safe, effective and the surest way of getting the pandemic under control.
Unfortunately the vaccine has become a political football when it should be about science and public health .
And vaccine hesitancy is also fueled by anti- vaccine propaganda, and spread by false, misleading and scientifically inaccurate information on social media.
So my advice is, for the health and safety of yourself, your loved ones and for the public good in general, please get vaccinated if you haven’t already done so!
G R JOSEPH 