We are not herd

       Hello, lovelies. 

              If the past global pandemic has taught us anything, it is that coughs and sneezes may cause diseases, but they can also kill us. In real time the world was taught a whole new vocabulary. Being positive was bad, whilst being negative was an excellent thing. Remember having a break in the circuit. Who knew what tier we were on at any given time? Eat out to help out, remember that one? I bet that there are very few people who wouldn’t remember the great loo roll shortage of 2020. And that the safest way to mix and mingle with our neighbours was to have the Covid vaccine. Queues formed around the designated buildings, as we waited for the jab. We all have to carry COVID-19 passport cards and show them on demand if we wanted to go anywhere or do anything. Yes, some people refused to get the jab, but by and large, we all signed up for it so that we could try and get the world back to some form of normal. And things did go back, well, sort of. We still see people sporting face masks. I now always carry hand sanitiser, and mostly we try not to stand too close to those around us. Not quite six feet apart, but not far off. So, getting the jab was a good thing. Not just for us, but for our fellow humans. The herd. We know that a good defence against some deadly diseases is to vaccinate, so why do some people still not do it? Is it all just a matter of preference? Do our own ideas and beliefs trump those of what is scientifically proven to be the right and safe thing to do? Or should we all be worried that governments around the world are working to thin the herd to track and trace us? I mean, weren’t we all promised to get 5G if were to be vaccinated, and I’m still waiting. So, the question is this, can we trust those in charge of our safety and be vaccinated? Or do we have the right to refuse to be jabbed and instead rely on a more ancient and herbalist route? Is being heard more important than being herd? 

             I am a big believer in vaccines. I always have been. If there is a flu vaccine, COVID booster or anything that can make my life that little bit safer, then sign me up. The second my children were born, I would be there, ready and waiting for them to be vaccinated. And even back in the early 2000s, when the MMR and autism fear was rampant, I still vaccinated my children. Because the alternative was for my children to get seriously ill and possibly not make it till adulthood if I didn’t was way too great a risk. And the other reason I put my children through the pain and discomfort of the inoculations was that I believed in and trusted the science. Some of the most learned and skilled people in the field of medicine worked their entire lives to protect us from deadly illnesses and diseases. If they hadn’t, then smallpox would still be around, harming, maiming and killing off generations of us.

             So, to say that I was more than surprised to discover that I had caught the potentially deadly virus, whooping cough last September, would be an understatement. It all started as a feeling of unwellness, which was followed by a cough and then feeling sicker than I have ever felt. Now, I have never heard someone cough with whooping cough, but mine just sounded like a seasonal cough. Then my asthma started to play up. I could hardly walk without needing to use my inhaler. And a walk that would have once taken me ten minutes was taking me an hour. I couldn’t speak without coughing and don’t even talk to me about trying to climb a flight of stairs. It was way beyond me. Not good when you work in a theatre. So many stairs! And once you throw in my immunocompromised body after 18 months of cancer treatments, and what should have been treated with a course of antibiotics took me six months and many, many different medications to kick. But why did I catch this potentially deadly disease? I had been inoculated as a child, so I should have been alright as an adult, shouldn’t I? Well, no. Vaccines only have a shelf life in your body of about 50 years, and with the herd immunity not being strong, I was subjected to the virus and was very seriously ill because of it. I could have, potentially, died from a preventable disease. But why? Hadn’t I done everything right? Both myself and my children have been vaccinated, why then should I have caught it? Whooping attacks the vulnerable, and it’s something that I never want to go through again. Honestly, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Well. Maybe my ex-husband, but no one else. And knowing the dangers, why are parents not taking every step for their children to never go through something like that? 

           With all that knowledge at our very fingertips about the benefits of vaccines, why are today’s children and a lot of adults not joining the herd and being jabbed? Measles and whooping cough are back with a vengeance and growing stronger every day. Diseases that had been renegaded to the past are now back and causing havoc. Have some terrible leaks and whistle-blowers been telling us that the medical professionals are trying to hurt us? No. Why then, should parents worry about potential side effects or the safety of vaccines to their children? Even despite scientific evidence supporting their safety and effectiveness?

           Maybe it’s all down to misinformation, misconceptions or false information about vaccines and their risks can lead some parents to be hesitant about vaccinating their children. Could the belief in natural immunity, make some parents believe that all a child needs can be acquired through the disease itself, which will give their child a superior immunity than from vaccines? But where is the evidence? And please don’t tell me to go and look on Facebook. Yes, the chemical breakdown of vaccines looks scary, but so does the chemical breakdown of an apple. Seriously, go and see for yourself if you don’t believe me. We also have the personal or religious beliefs that stop families from being inoculated. Then there is the ‘risk’ of autism as if that is something to be scared of!! But that link, if you can even call it that, has been debunked by scientific studies over and over again, yet some parents still fear a link between vaccines and autism due to misinformation, misdirection and out and out lies. And then there is the massive distrust of pharmaceutical companies or the government. Has this scepticism led to vaccine hesitancy? 

         I get it, I really do. We all want to protect ourselves and those we care for and love, but because there is a trend of children not being vaccinated, I could have died. And how can that be right? Surely, we have a duty of care for our neighbours and fellow humans to make our collective herd immunity as strong as it can be.

            Hold on, what is herd immunity? Well. It is also known as community immunity, which is a concept used in public health to describe a situation where a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease, either through vaccination or prior illness, so that the spread of the disease from person to person becomes unlikely. In infectious diseases, like viruses, the ability to spread from person to person depends on the infectiousness of the pathogen and the susceptibility of the population. If a large portion of the population is susceptible to a disease, it can spread rapidly through the community. So, the proportion of the population that needs to be immune to achieve herd immunity. For highly contagious diseases like measles, a very high percentage of the population, typically around 95% needs to be immune to interrupt the chain of transmission. For less contagious diseases, the threshold can be lower. When enough individuals in a population are immune to a disease the spread of the disease slows down significantly. Immune individuals act as a barrier, making it difficult for the disease to find susceptible hosts to infect. Herd immunity is particularly important because it indirectly protects those who cannot be vaccinated or have weakened immune systems, like me, who are undergoing chemotherapy or with certain medical conditions, and are at higher risk of severe complications from the disease. Vaccinations are one of the primary ways to achieve herd immunity without allowing widespread illness. By vaccinating a significant portion of the population, the transmission of the disease can be controlled, preventing outbreaks and reducing the overall disease burden in the community. 

            What we all need to remember is that vaccines are rigorously tested for safety and efficacy. The benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks of potential side effects. Vaccination prevents the spread of contagious diseases within communities, reducing the likelihood of outbreaks. And by preventing diseases through vaccination, you are safeguarding your child's long-term health and well-being. We are all happy to get the right medications and jabs for our families when we travel abroad, to stop any unwanted illness and diseases, so why stop there and protect ourselves?

           It’s only natural to be worried or scared about the risks of being vaccinated, but in cases like this, the prevention and solution are bigger than all of us. We do need to look out for ourselves and each other. I’m sure that no one thought that by not getting the jab could cause illness in someone else, but it does. 

           We don’t have to be at the front of the queue for the next vaccine and jab, but we do need to get it. Challenge those who resist, and explain the massive benefits to being protected. It is a crazy world out there, so let’s do our very best to keep it as safe as we can be. div class="separator" style="clear: both;">