It is truly amazing that we see so many part-time medical professionals on Facebook, and letters to the editor, particularly about the choice to get vaccinated or not. Of course, it is a personal choice. However, please don’t whine and complain about being discriminated against if you’re refused entry into another country, including the one of your birth. That is not discrimination on any country’s part, that is them being prudent and proactive. For those with a legitimate reason (like a medical one) I’m sure there will be some manner of accommodation. As for those who simply don’t wish to get it, get used to being restricted in your movement.
What I truly find amusing or, more accurately, frustrating, is that those who won’t get vaccinated for medical/religious reasons etc., seem to be the loudest conspiracy theorists. The simple facts are, you and I haven’t the requisite knowledge in medical science. In other words, you don’t really know whereof you speak. Allow me to bring in a personal perspective. My English born wife, a retired oncology medical professional, was a key team member during SARS at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. Princess Margaret is the top cancer care/research hospital in Canada, and most certainly is among the top ten world-wide. The hospital actually poached her from the UK due to her unique skill set in bone marrow transplants. Therefore, she knows what she is talking about. She is aware that cancer patients are at more risk than most, so SARS was given appropriate attention. What’s remarkable is that since March of last year my wife has been, unhappily, uncannily accurate in her predictions of the number of deaths which will come from the virus. Every time a state or province “opens up”, her predictions of the end result prove, again, unhappily true. Back in April of last year I asked her a question; If the Coronavirus had occurred in 1919, post WW1, what would have been the outcome. She replied with, “it’s hard to say 100 years later.” Would the casualty count be much higher? Absolutely... Would it be as high as the Influenza of 1919? Very hard to say. She explained that the past century has seen light years of leaps in medical science and practice. 100 years ago, transplants of organs were unheard of and preventative vaccines were, at best, in their infancy. The prevention, curing and management of so many, once fatal, diseases and injuries is so far ahead of what it was in 1919. Illnesses that were once common, like Polio, Measles, Mumps Scarlet Fever etc., are largely in the past. Of course, the research coming out of two world wars and countless conflicts have been some of the greatest contributors to the massive advancements. Many once fatal, or severely debilitating, injuries and diseases are being well managed. The list of medical advances is endless. Then there is the matter of sanitation and basic hygiene. We now understand the importance of the simple act of washing our hands and frequent bathing. We no longer live cheek by jowl in urban areas sharing ablutions and such. However, likely the greatest advancement is the internet and the amazing ability we now process, not just in the medical field but in everyday life to communicate important information. In 1919 we didn’t have instantaneous communication and the information highway we enjoy today. We know more and we know it faster.
Let there be no mistake, this Coronavirus is real and without the precautions that have been taken would be far worse than it is.
For all you amateur scientists and doctors out there, please include the medical and or scientific degrees you possess when you counter the logic and arguments made by medical experts. The pandemic is difficult on everyone and I surely recognize the economic hardships. That said, I will always believe medicine and science over some self-serving politician who may be in the pocket of big business. Notice Politicians are the ones allowing big-box stores/big business, etc. to remain open and thrive when, in fact, the public may very well be safer shopping at the smaller family-owned businesses.
Here’s the deal for me... As a boy I was very lucky that my folks sent me off to Ireland for the summers. I have many great memories. I also have one single stark, vivid recollection, a gravestone in Deans Grange Cemetery, Dublin. It was the gravestone of my great-aunt who was born in 1919, after my Grandfather fought in the Infantry from 1914-1918. He lived through the carnage of France and Belgium and then had the joy of having a baby, only to have the child taken away months later, by the horrible Influenza pandemic. She died the year she was born, 1919. She was the aunt I never met, a sister my mother and other aunt never knew, an innocent child lost to a brutal disease. All these years later I still remember her graveside and wonder what she would have been like. Fast forward, I am now a Grandfather to the sweetest prettiest little 1.5-year-old, Freyja. Because of the necessary precautions I’ve only actually seen her three times. I don’t want her to wonder what her Grandpa was like. So yes, I take this seriously. If we all just play by the rules suggested by the scientific and medical experts, I will get to see her soon.
Think on this for a moment please. Given all the advances in science and medicine that continue as we speak, I think it’s fair to say that they have done pretty well for us thus far. My parents’ generation didn’t make a fuss when we were vaccinated for German Measles, Typhoid, etc. They sang the praises of Dr. Salk who developed the polio vaccine. Imagine if we didn’t have those vaccines now. Who of us might have Polio or perhaps have been struck down by another childhood disease? For those on insulin, how would we cope had our Grandparents and Great Grandparents decided that Banting and Best were a pair of Canadian witch doctors, complete frauds? All of a sudden, we don’t trust science and the medical profession? In this case, the next time you are seriously ill, or stricken with a life altering ailment, might I suggest you consult your local reality-denying neighbour or politician or conspiracy theorist. Let’s be kind to one another here ok. I’ve presented what I believe to be a logical and sound rebuttal, that I hope you like and might use when speaking to a reasonable denier. The vast number are lost in an abyss far too deep too crawl out of in this lifetime.
What I truly find amusing or, more accurately, frustrating, is that those who won’t get vaccinated for medical/religious reasons etc., seem to be the loudest conspiracy theorists. The simple facts are, you and I haven’t the requisite knowledge in medical science. In other words, you don’t really know whereof you speak. Allow me to bring in a personal perspective. My English born wife, a retired oncology medical professional, was a key team member during SARS at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. Princess Margaret is the top cancer care/research hospital in Canada, and most certainly is among the top ten world-wide. The hospital actually poached her from the UK due to her unique skill set in bone marrow transplants. Therefore, she knows what she is talking about. She is aware that cancer patients are at more risk than most, so SARS was given appropriate attention. What’s remarkable is that since March of last year my wife has been, unhappily, uncannily accurate in her predictions of the number of deaths which will come from the virus. Every time a state or province “opens up”, her predictions of the end result prove, again, unhappily true. Back in April of last year I asked her a question; If the Coronavirus had occurred in 1919, post WW1, what would have been the outcome. She replied with, “it’s hard to say 100 years later.” Would the casualty count be much higher? Absolutely... Would it be as high as the Influenza of 1919? Very hard to say. She explained that the past century has seen light years of leaps in medical science and practice. 100 years ago, transplants of organs were unheard of and preventative vaccines were, at best, in their infancy. The prevention, curing and management of so many, once fatal, diseases and injuries is so far ahead of what it was in 1919. Illnesses that were once common, like Polio, Measles, Mumps Scarlet Fever etc., are largely in the past. Of course, the research coming out of two world wars and countless conflicts have been some of the greatest contributors to the massive advancements. Many once fatal, or severely debilitating, injuries and diseases are being well managed. The list of medical advances is endless. Then there is the matter of sanitation and basic hygiene. We now understand the importance of the simple act of washing our hands and frequent bathing. We no longer live cheek by jowl in urban areas sharing ablutions and such. However, likely the greatest advancement is the internet and the amazing ability we now process, not just in the medical field but in everyday life to communicate important information. In 1919 we didn’t have instantaneous communication and the information highway we enjoy today. We know more and we know it faster.
Let there be no mistake, this Coronavirus is real and without the precautions that have been taken would be far worse than it is.
For all you amateur scientists and doctors out there, please include the medical and or scientific degrees you possess when you counter the logic and arguments made by medical experts. The pandemic is difficult on everyone and I surely recognize the economic hardships. That said, I will always believe medicine and science over some self-serving politician who may be in the pocket of big business. Notice Politicians are the ones allowing big-box stores/big business, etc. to remain open and thrive when, in fact, the public may very well be safer shopping at the smaller family-owned businesses.
Here’s the deal for me... As a boy I was very lucky that my folks sent me off to Ireland for the summers. I have many great memories. I also have one single stark, vivid recollection, a gravestone in Deans Grange Cemetery, Dublin. It was the gravestone of my great-aunt who was born in 1919, after my Grandfather fought in the Infantry from 1914-1918. He lived through the carnage of France and Belgium and then had the joy of having a baby, only to have the child taken away months later, by the horrible Influenza pandemic. She died the year she was born, 1919. She was the aunt I never met, a sister my mother and other aunt never knew, an innocent child lost to a brutal disease. All these years later I still remember her graveside and wonder what she would have been like. Fast forward, I am now a Grandfather to the sweetest prettiest little 1.5-year-old, Freyja. Because of the necessary precautions I’ve only actually seen her three times. I don’t want her to wonder what her Grandpa was like. So yes, I take this seriously. If we all just play by the rules suggested by the scientific and medical experts, I will get to see her soon.
Think on this for a moment please. Given all the advances in science and medicine that continue as we speak, I think it’s fair to say that they have done pretty well for us thus far. My parents’ generation didn’t make a fuss when we were vaccinated for German Measles, Typhoid, etc. They sang the praises of Dr. Salk who developed the polio vaccine. Imagine if we didn’t have those vaccines now. Who of us might have Polio or perhaps have been struck down by another childhood disease? For those on insulin, how would we cope had our Grandparents and Great Grandparents decided that Banting and Best were a pair of Canadian witch doctors, complete frauds? All of a sudden, we don’t trust science and the medical profession? In this case, the next time you are seriously ill, or stricken with a life altering ailment, might I suggest you consult your local reality-denying neighbour or politician or conspiracy theorist. Let’s be kind to one another here ok. I’ve presented what I believe to be a logical and sound rebuttal, that I hope you like and might use when speaking to a reasonable denier. The vast number are lost in an abyss far too deep too crawl out of in this lifetime.
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