After months of protest, I gave in last March, and got the first Covid shot. I had to travel 5 hours - one way - to a city that had openings in their schedule. It was a killer trip, which I had to repeat a month later.
But, I did, and had no side effects (although I was at high risk of them, having demonstrated strong reactions to substances, including antibiotics and other meds).
But, now, the "experts" are claiming that we ALL need a third, and maybe a fourth shot.
Horseshit.
Ain't gonna do that.
Now, as it happens, I have some background in science. I was a science teacher for many years, and, in the early days, taught general science, a catch-all that prepared students for Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Space, and Physics. As such, I had to have a broad background in all science disciplines.
When I moved to SC, I found that I would be teaching several sections of Biology, as well. That was NOT my strong point, so I needed to bone up on the subject. As a result, I got into the habit of reading books about diseases and other biology topics.
One book was on TB - as I recall, it was this one. Another, more general, traced the history of vaccines and immunizations.
Originally, the term "vaccine" was strictly used for the process by which people became smallpox resistant (not completely perfect, but it generally gave good protection). It used pus from people having suffered an infection of smallpox, which was dried (and presumably inactivated), and applying it via opening the skin through scratching until bleeding occurred.
It was NOT invented by Jenner, nor by any Western scientist or doctor - it was a treatment common in the Middle East (where they had suffered from the disease for centuries - it's mentioned in the Bible). That was the preventive treatment used by several influential people, who brought it back to the Western countries, including England.
In England, a less dangerous means of treatment was use of cowpox (occasionally, someone would actually get a case of smallpox from the inoculation, as sometimes happens today with immunizations). Cowpox was transmitted by cows, who got the characteristic pustules of all pox diseases (including chicken pox). The people most in contact with the cows would get a mild case, and therefore after, be much less likely to get smallpox.
Those people were women - called milkmaids - and gave them a reputation of having beautiful complexions (as they wouldn't be scarred by a smallpox infection).
BTW, the word vaccine comes from the Latin vacca (cow). It became associated with any inoculation or injection used to prevent disease after Louis Pasteur called his rabies cure a 'vaccine'.
How does this relate to Covid?
Natural immunities for a particular classification of disease, the various poxes, retroviruses, influenzas, rhinoviruses (colds), streptococcal infections, and others, will tend to provide protection for OTHER closely related illnesses.
Hence, the average person, having been exposed to many relatively mild strains of illness, will have what is called a "healthy immune system" - one that recognizes a wide variety of pathogens, and readily produces the appropriate natural substance for attacking and disabling the invader.
That doesn't happen as readily when people are given immunizations. The protection is not as long-lasting, complete, or providing protection against closely related infections. Such as the Covid shots.
Does that mean that I'm anti-vax?
Hell, no. If the disease is sufficiently dangerous - killing a significant percent of otherwise healthy people - then vaccines are the way to go.
If the disease is mild in most, but fatal to a sub-group of the population - the elderly, the immunocompromised, those with other medical conditions - then, give them the necessary shots, have them stay home during periods of high contagion, and prioritize the Public Health precautions and assistance to them.
Let those who are less likely to become seriously ill move more freely, being careful to take more precautions if they may come in contact with those who are most at risk. Let the least likely to become sick - generally, that's children above the age of 5 - mingle freely, and only remove them from school if they become actively ill. If the numbers get too high, TEMPORARILY close the school, and move to online learning. Use netbooks for those without access to computers, and set up access points in poorer neighborhoods.
Then, once the threat is over, come back to school.
Do NOT use 'testing' to decide who to isolate. These generate more false positives than true positives, and lead to prolonged school shutdowns. If a teacher or student feels ill, and tests positive, at that point, have them stay home. Don't hysterically test every person who came within 10 feet of them.
Teachers and nurses - if you might become pregnant, those may not be good fields for you to be working in - you, and your baby, are at higher risk. You might want to temporarily step out of that kind of work, and not expose yourself to disease. Am I saying that you CAN'T work in your field?
No. Just that you MIGHT want to discuss it with your family, and decide whether a short break might be in your best interests.
