Letter to the Editor: In Rotten Pandemic, Vaccine Is a Rare Win

Posted

I just read your article reporting that COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and (I think) deaths are at all-time highs in Lewis County. This seems like a good time to promote the COVID vaccines. Good news: They work!

Getting a vaccine makes it a lot less likely that you will contract COVID-19. And vaccinated people who do get sick are much less likely to get seriously ill or to die. The vaccines would be worth it if they only did one of those things. They do both.

Moreover, vaccines make the community a safer place for everybody. More vaccinated people means fewer infected people. Fewer infected people mean that all of us — vaccinated or not — will be exposed to the virus less often and therefore be less likely to get sick. Getting vaccinated is a great way to protect unvaccinated children or your immunocompromised neighbors from COVID-19.

This pandemic is a rotten situation, but we are lucky that researchers, drawing on decades of previous research, were able to design and test several good vaccines relatively quickly. Let's take the wins where we can get 'em.



You can locate COVID vaccines at vaccines.gov/search. They are free.

 

Dale Grauman

Winfield, Illinois