The Vaccination Dilemma! It's better to set one's own expectations RIGHT?

The Common Human Fallacy that when we didn't have anything, we prayed that 'God, give us Vaccines soon!' & now when we have one, 'We expect that it should be 100% Safe!'...

If 2020 was all about Covid-19, the New Year belongs to vaccines against the Coronavirus. To be specific, not just the vaccines that have been either approved or are in the final stages of approval, but by controversies surrounding the vaccines. Suddenly, thanks to the social media universities that have spread faster than Covid and ‘infected’ many, everyone is an expert, including your neighbour who otherwise did nothing and doctors and physicians who have had nothing to do with the development of the vaccine.

What puts these experts on high octane is the ready and captive audience keen on listening to the medical gyan on social media. And, speaking of the audience, they come in a broad spectrum of three categories that can trigger various reactions or amplify what has been put out as misinformation masquerading as deep and ‘credible’ information. The three categories are: people in a tearing hurry to get vaccinated, a large army of crusaders ready to launch a war against vaccines and wedged in between are the fence-sitters not knowing which side to jump.

That said, we shall deal with each group. Let me make it clear that all the vaccines that have been approved are for emergency use. So, what does that mean? In simple terms, this means that the scientific community has not had adequate time to analyse the safety and effectiveness of all these currently available vaccines in spite of the best of their efforts, knowledge and resources, says Dr DP Prakash FRCS, American Eyecare & Lasik Centre.

In a candid, and on-your-face piece on social media, he adds: “So it’s up to you to realise whether you are in an emergency or not”. 

Now to the second group: the ‘experts’ who say that the vaccines being developed are dangerous. Again, let me put it straight: which human activity comes without risk or hidden danger? When you step on to the road, there is a five percent chance that you may die of an accident. So, do you stop traveling? Passenger planes have crashed, trains have derailed and road accidents are dime a dozen every day. So, do you stay put at home?

Even the ubiquitous Paracetamol that you pop in when you have a fever, or the pain-killers that you take come with side reactions. They come with the danger of damaging your kidneys or liver!! Every antibiotic comes with some risk or the other including some adverse events that could have killed you. “Every anaesthesia that someone in your family had before surgery could have caused complications like paralysis of the breathing leading to death,” points out Dr Prakash.

But you continue taking the medicines or willingly approve anaesthesia because the benefits far outweigh the risks. So is the case of the Covid vaccines.

No vaccine in this world has come with the stamp of being 100% safe. If ever there is such a claim, you can confidently dismiss it as a phoney one.

“In my opinion any vaccine including all the Covid vaccines are a part of the solution. No vaccine can protect against any disease 100% of the time. This I state from our experience with viral infections like Polio, Measles, Influenza and HIV”, says Dr Prakash.

So, you may wonder about these vaccines being widely used against various infections. Yes, they too come with risks, but, again, I reiterate, the benefits far outweigh the risks by miles.

Giving examples, Dr Prakash says: “any child who got the measles vaccine could have become permanently a vegetable due to a condition called Sub Acute Sclerosing Pan Encephalitis or SSPE. Yet your Paediatrician gave your precious children this vaccine.

“Does it sound intriguing to you that your own trusted doctor gave you something that could’ve potentially killed or paralysed you permanently? Wake up people. No medicine is 100% safe”.

The experts on social media say that Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine could trigger anaphylaxis. On the face of it the statement is right. But read the next part: only 1 in one lakh can have this adverse reaction. So, do you keep away from the vaccine or say you could be the one in one lakh? No, you would be ready to take the risk.

Coming to Covishield developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca-Serum Institute of India, Dr Vishal Rao, oncologist and member of an expert committee of the Covid Task Force, Government of Karnataka, was quoted in the media as saying: “The reported adverse events of the vaccine suggest that there is a high risk of neuro-inflammatory disorders, including transverse myelitis, facial nerve palsies and trigeminal neuralgia that need to be closely monitored.”

But there is no mention of the percentage of the so-called ‘high risk’.

“Experts have also raised concerns about some other open issues regarding the vaccine, such as the duration of protection from antibody response and dosing beyond the two-dose schedule, effectiveness of the vaccine against long-term effects of Covid-19 disease, effectiveness in children below 18 years of age, pregnant, lactating women and immune-compromised individuals”, says Dr Prakash. While these cannot be swept under the carpet, these risks are miniscule compared to the benefits.

Now to the fence-sitters: your choice is simple. Whether you want to be vaccinated or not is purely your choice. That’s the only FACT that you need to know. Everything else is relative. If you feel fairly comfortable with the assessment that you will not die of Covid, then you need not take any vaccines.

A good mask worn with 6 feet physical distancing and hand hygiene can protect you 100% from Covid. And for many, that would be the best ‘vaccine’. But we are all social animals and love to meet, party and have fun. So you cannot be in a bubble for ever till herd immunity sets in.

A herd immunity is the only sure shot way to eliminate Covid. The reality is each one of us is part of this herd and it’s in each one of our hands to help reach the herd immunity as soon as possible.

Look at the Covid vaccine as an extra safety measure along with masks, physical distancing and hand hygiene, not as a replacement. This we have to accept until the world develops herd immunity from Covid just like Smallpox or Polio.

The choice is yours. So, do not get carried away by the gibberish on social media. Make a well-informed decision today.

Either get infected or get vaccinated, or wait for herd immunity to set in or stay forever in a bubble distanced from other people. The choice is yours to make.