Last week’s letter headlined “The emperor has no clothes” was disheartening. It was written by an erudite, apparently well-educated, but angry gentleman, whose main argument seems to be that, since the COVID-19 vaccines are not totally perfect in preventing infection or transmission, there is “no logical justification for demanding other people get it”. He urges us to “stop telling others what to do, stay out of other people’s business, and let people live their own lives.”

Yes, we don’t like being ordered to do things, but I for one sure hope that restaurant owners will still mandate that their employed food handlers wash after using the rest room, despite any contrary personal beliefs or assertions of freedom they might declare. While we all resent being told what to do, the doctors and nurses and scientists who are urging us to protect ourselves and our community with vaccination are not “shot-tyrants”; they are people with real knowledge trying to explain to us why it’s so important.

The writer implies that there are “concerning” problems with the vaccine (there really aren’t), but avoids reminding us of the vaccines’ benefits. The latest CDC data show that the hospitalization rate among adults ages 50-64 years is 45 times higher for the unvaccinated compared to those vaccinated and boosted; in the 65 and older group it is 51 times higher. The overall risk of death is 68 times higher for the unvaccinated versus those vaccinated and boosted.

As of Feb. 9, 2022 COVID-19 had caused a total of 906,603 deaths in the US; in Rhode Island the total was 3,369. On Feb. 9 last week there were 3,489 reported COVID deaths in the US on just that one day. That’s 3,489 families who are now mourning a new painful personal loss. Remember how horrified we were on Sept. 11, 2001 when 2,977 people died in the attacks on the United States?

Why get vaccinated? Because vaccination is the best way to lower the prevalence of the virus in our communities. We may personally be spared a bad outcome if we are unvaccinated and contract COVID, but there are many of our neighbors who will not. We can get vaccinated because we care about the doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists and all the providers whose lives have been so unimaginably stressed taking care of us for so long. We can get vaccinated because we care about all those with non COVID-related medical and surgical needs whose health and well-being have been damaged by the jammed-up hospitals. We can get vaccinated because we care about the immunocompromised, the cancer patients on chemotherapy, the frail elderly struggling with daily life, for whom a COVID infection is especially dangerous. We can get vaccinated because we care about others.

And to those who oppose vaccine requirements, please think about all those people who love you, and care about you, and who want you to continue to be in their lives. Get the shot for them.

Daniel I. Becker, M.D.
Barrington