We struggle every day with the COVID pandemic, and at the same time, some of us reject our greatest tool against it, vaccination. This article is my opinion about the oxymoron of nurses against COVID vaccine mandates.
NursesCOVIDArticle
I’ve never seen anything like it. As a 72-year old woman and an RN for over 50 years, our current nursing climate has shocked and stunned me. I have lost faith in too many regular every day human beings. My strengths as a nurse and just as a woman have always centered around my ability to accept, love and care for other people. I’ve never had much trouble getting along with others, even those who I may disagree with. But lately, just being able to converse with some people is a struggle.
We all have strong feelings about the subject of COVID. Most families have been impacted with infections. Mine has. My brother was hospitalized but he got excellent medical and nursing care and he survived. He had long COVID symptoms, but eventually he got better, got vaccinated and has moved on with his life. He was one of the lucky ones. His son’s entire extended in-law family got infected after a 2020 Thanksgiving gathering. A guest brought a sick child to the event…everyone got infected. All survived. What were they thinking having a family gathering of that size during this pandemic?
So, how do we move through this damnable pandemic, when it shows no indication of going away. We read every day about new cases, how many are hospitalized, how many are in ICU and/or intubated. Then that data is broken down into how many were vaccinated and how many were not. The numbers speak very clearly to me, about how important vaccination is. I am not an expert on data analysis, or epidemiology, or COVID for that matter. But, I am a concerned old retired nurse. I am also exhausted by COVID, and I have not even been infected.
I remember standing in line when I was just a scared little girl, to get my shots in school. There was no discussion. Our parents signed the permits and we got the shots. Everyone was grateful for the vaccinations, particularly for the polio vaccine. Kids in my small Maine town had been infected and crippled by polio. I don’t remember deaths, but certainly there were some. We were pretty young so we were most likely protected from such sad news.
My parents and my teachers did not question the vaccines. They just thanked God that we had them, and they made sure we kids got them. Because of solid science and our wise parents and teachers, Polio does not exist in the US anymore. Also, Tetorifice, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Measles, Mumps and other infectious diseases were extremely rare, nearly non-existent…. until the anti vax movement became a thing. I am not going to give that movement oxygen in my writing. I’ll just give a single example.
When I still worked as an RN in a walk in care, a woman came to my triage desk. She was very scared, because her child had whooping cough. He was very ill, was admitted for intensive care, and he survived. She had a lot more kids at home….like 10 or so, and she was anti vax. Her fright of nearly losing her child changed her mind, and she got all of her children fully vaccinated. Why did it take such a scare to move her, to protect her children?
The reality of COVID is like black and white to me. It is a deadly infection, and it spreads more easily than any other infection I have seen in my lifetime. Old folks (like me), and immunocompromised people of any age are at highest risk of death from COVID. We are also less likely to accomplish a great immune response even if fully vaccinated. That is the reason that General Colin Powell died this week. His Multiple Myeloma and his age compromised his ability to launch a strong immunity to COVID, even though he was fully vaccinated.
Why are we still having this discussion ... to vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Astoundingly, fellow RNs are willing to lose their jobs to make a statement against vaccine mandates. The data and science speak for themselves. I am losing respect for nurses who are anti vax.
I have always been open to reasonable, science-based discussions about medical treatments and other topics, but this one I am firm on. I believe with all my heart, that vaccinations are our single most powerful tool to get us out of this pandemic.
