Guest Editorial by Dr. Duane Rommel, Board Certified in Pediatrics
The Wall Street Journal called upon Governor Ron De Santis to speak out on the benefits of the Covid Vaccine. (“A Covid Vaccine Crossroads, July 15, 2021). As a Primary Care Physician, I lend my experience with life-saving vaccines to this call.
As a grandfather of teenage grandchildren, this is personal. I support them getting the vaccine.
For years I’ve championed the benefits of vaccines, against a minority, the ‘anti-vaxxer’ voices who cling to internet science. After forty years, I’m not wasting my time arguing with them.
“You cannot reason someone out of something he or she was not reasoned into.”
– Jonathan Swift
My words are for those who support the vaccine. Unbelievably, I’m having to encourage those who do believe in science and are vaccinated.
John McEnroe, the famous tennis player, used to exclaim, “You cannot be serious!”
His outcry is mine. I’m shocked how some, in even the medical community and media, have complicated and confused the scientific facts regarding Covid. They insist mask wearing and social distancing are still necessary for the vaccinated. They don’t seem to believe in the lives saved and great success of the vaccines.
I do not believe, and neither does Ron De Santis, that our government needs to be in control of our health decisions. But, like Ron:
1. I believe the Coronavirus is real.
2. I don’t want to get a contagious illness that might cause mild to serious health problems, or death.
3. I have gotten the vaccine.
4. It is the vaccines, unlike any other measures, that have broken the back of the Covid pandemic.
For the vaccinated, the Covid Pandemic is over.
I’m writing to encourage those who are already vaccinated. You can live freely now, in spite of what we continue to read on the front page. Even fear mongering talk about ‘variants,’ can be disregarded, because they’re not life threatening to the vaccinated.
If you’re not vaccinated, join those of us living free from fear, and get the Covid vaccine. Currently 90% of people over age 65 have been vaccinated in the USA. However, if you look at people between 12 – 18 years old, only 13% of this age have been vaccinated.
My patients ask me, “Is it necessary, and safe to vaccinate my teenager?”
Although Covid 19 in children is usually milder than in adults, some kids can get very sick and have complications or long-lasting symptoms that affect their health and well-being.
A thousand cases of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), out of millions and millions of vaccinations, have been reported. But it’s a rare and mild condition which resolves quickly.
The benefits of being vaccinated for COVID-19 far outweigh the risks.
Get your teens vaccinated. The science shows that for the vaccinated, no more quarantines. Vaccinated school children need not miss school.
Get yourself and your kids vaccinated.
The American Academy of Pediatrics fully supports vaccinating children 12 to 18.
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