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VACCINATION WON’T MAKE YOU A CROCODILE

01/09/2021 08:20:00 The Editor

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Sir,

When was the last time you crossed a busy highway without looking both ways before you stepped into traffic? You might be lucky enough to make it across without a scratch, or all cars might come to a screeching halt to let you pass. However, there is a good chance you would be hit, injured, or killed. The same holds true with the COVID-19 pandemic. The only difference is that with the new, doubly contagious, more dangerous delta variant, sometime in the next two years you are almost guaranteed to be hit with this potentially fatal infection.

You will get sick. If you are not vaccinated, you are likely to end up in a critical-care bed in the hospital – if one is available – or dead. If you are vaccinated, you might not get sick at all. Or you may experience cold or flu-like symptoms and spend a few feverish, aching days in bed. Ask yourself, can you afford the medical bills for a month’s hospital stay? Are you ready to give up everything you own or have worked for your whole life - and your family– forever, to reside in a box six feet under? Or would you rather get a free life-saving vaccine jab? Now is the time to decide. Once you get sick six days, weeks, or months from now, it is too late. Get the jab now!

Died

Recently a popular, conservative radio talk-show host in America died of Covid-19. He had told his radio audience they really did not need to get vaccinated. He claimed even if he got infected, he would have only one chance in a hundred of dying. The immune system God gave him was strong, so he had no fear. Wrong ,wrong ,and wrong. Maybe he forgot the chapter in the Bible where God sent the deadly plagues unto Egypt. Killer epidemics have haunted humanity every century from the beginning of civilisation. COVID-19 is just the latest. As the song from 1968 by Jerry Butler suggests, ‘only the strong survive’. Today, only those smart enough to get vaccinated will survive unscathed. If you are not vaccinated, be sure your burial plan is paid, and last will and testament notarised. You are likely to need both sooner than expected. For people a bit more lucky, 50 per cent of those hospitalised with COVID will suffer long-term health consequences with long-COVID. Almost everyone with serious COVID-19 suffers some degree of long-term loss of lung capacity.

Confuse

Facts are facts. However, legions of people on social media are trying to confuse others with distorted information. Do not be fooled by scammers, fools or fanatics. Believing them will kill you. Some misinformation is crazy, like when the President of Brazil claimed a vaccine would turn a person into a crocodile – or a chimpanzee. President Bolsonaro caught COVID-19 after he refused to wear a mask or get vaccinated. Despite the best medical attention, he ended up hick-upping uncontrollably for ten days. Not getting vaccinated turned him into a horse’s ass. The president of Tanzania died after he refused to get vaccinated or wear a mask. The virus does not discriminate. Too many have died already. In one week in July 2021 two people I really liked passed away. One was the car guard at the parking lot where I work. Bongani was almost 50.

I shared many lunches with him, and he always waved as I entered and left the lot. I was shocked when he died. That same week one of my favourite pharmacists Danny passed away. When I learned he was 84 years old I was surprised because he was lively and fit and sharp as a tack. Somehow, he had believed the antivax junk on social media and failed to get vaccinated. He was a highly intelligent, successful man. The virus took him in two weeks. But it was really the lies and distortions on social media that killed him. He did not have to die. Neither did the American radio host or the Tanzanian president. All were victims of anti-scientific propaganda. Do not let this happen to you.

Shots

Every mother knows that babies need their shots. In past centuries millions of children died annually of childhood diseases. Now, because of almost universal vaccination, few do. Maybe that is why women are more inclined to get vaccinated than men. Is it possible grown men fear a vaccine shot - the same thing they received when they were babies? Hard to believe. Now is the time to man-up to protect your own life, your family, friends, and co-workers. Only the smart survive. The strong, strong-headed, and confused but unvaccinated may not. Which side will you be on? Pick fast. When COVID comes calling – which it will soon - it will be too late. Get vaccinated today. For some people, next month will not be soon enough. What would your family do without you? Do not bet your entire life on anti-science propaganda. You will lose. Will a vaccination turn you into a crocodile or chimpanzee? Look in the mirror and see what you see. Look again in two years. If you do not get vaccinated, in two years when you look, you might not see anything at all.