(EDITOR’S NOTE: At the request of local Emergency Management Agency officials, Mr. Stanard was asked to write the following as a senior citizen waiting for the COVID-19 vaccine who also is a Poplar Bluff native and life-long community supporter.)
As nearly 10% of all Butler Countians are known to be infected with COVID-19, acceptance of next week’s vaccine for seniors and other vulnerable citizens will be crucial to slowing the onslaught of this potentially deadly virus.
Please know at the outset that the vaccine information in this article came SOLELY from official documents from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and medical scientists at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins University.
I turned 80 last July, the age of my father when he died 31 years ago. But I’m not yet ready to go. So, I plan to receive the first of my two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine next Friday during the mass inoculation at the Hydro Adventures water park in South Poplar Bluff.
The second shot will be given three weeks later on Feb. 5.
Dad carried with him for his last 72 years vivid memories of covered bodies lying along the street curb, waiting for the horse-drawn hearses to come for them as an 8-year-old boy enduring the “Spanish flu” epidemic in St. Louis in 1917. Some of the dead came from the tenement building dad shared with his mother, who became ill but survived.
No one wants to witness in Poplar Bluff what my father saw in St. Louis a century ago. But it could happen unless enough people get vaccinated. Our hospital is running at full capacity and infections are still raging. At EXTREME RISK of permanent disability or death are our senior citizens and others with pre-existing health conditions.
The risk of hospitalization and/or death from this virus increases exponentially with age. Using 18-to-29-year-olds as the comparison group, ages 40-49 are three times more likely to be hospitalized and 10 times more at risk of dying; 50-64 four times and 30 times; 65-74 five times and 90 times; 75-84 eight times and 220 times; and 85+ 13 times and 630 times.
Those numbers would seem to make a compelling case for senior citizens to get vaccinated.
The Pfizer vaccine is safe. It was developed quickly, not due to unsafe shortcuts in the process, but because of brand new, ground-breaking technology and other favorable factors. (Earlier vaccines for other diseases often took years to develop.) Because this vaccine contains no actual virus or other infectious materials, you cannot get COVID-19 from the vaccination.
The most common side effects from the Pfizer vaccine are pain, swelling or redness in the arm, and/or chills, fatigue and headache. Most last only a day or two, according to medical authorities. Although the Pfizer vaccine contains no eggs, preservatives or latex, substances that can cause allergies in some people, those who have experienced a severe allergic reaction to vaccinations in the past should consult with a physician before receiving the COVID-19 inoculation.
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the Pfizer (and Moderna) vaccines is their extremely high rate – 95% – of efficacy (protection). Most annual influenza vaccines offer only 40- to- 60% efficacy.
Importantly, even after vaccination it will be imperative to continue with masking, social distancing and hand washing at least for the immediate future until medical authorities can declare the spread of the virus has been sufficiently eliminated.
I consider it an honor and a privilege to have been asked to write this brief statement in support of the coming vaccination opportunities for our general public in the Poplar Bluff area. Widespread inoculation with this effective vaccine is our best hope for faster control and eventual elimination of the greatest health threat we’ve seen in more than 100 years.
(John Stanard spent a lengthy career as a newspaperman. He has written and researched extensively on medical topics. In 1973 the Missouri State Medical Association honored him with its annual Missouri Newspaper Journalism Award for his “Distinguished Medical News Feature,” a four-part series on how to survive a heart attack. In 1997 Stanard published “Caring for America: the Story of Family Practice,” a book commissioned by the American Academy of Family Physicians.)