Waging a war against COVID

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I was startled from a peaceful slumber recently by a horrific vision of my three year old great-grandson in a hospital bed with breathing apparatus covering his lower face. Only his big brown eyes were visible, imploring me to do something.

We’re waging a world war with COVID as the enemy.

Throughout history, similar wars have raged with enemies like smallpox, polio, hepatitis or tetanus. Those wars were all won using the same weapon — vaccines.

We have the vaccine to end this war, but too many people are not taking up this weapon. Whether you aren’t getting vaccinated because it hasn’t seemed important or you just feel it’s your right to remain unvaccinated, while you wait, the war intensifies.

Getting the vaccine, or NOT, is not a political issue or statement. It’s a humanitarian effort to save our world from this enemy.

Are we going to have a generation of children without a parent to guide them, or a grandparent to love them unconditionally, a great-grandparent who can watch and guide while others work, or maybe a sibling?

Yes, it’s your right by man-made laws to refuse to take the vaccine. However, there are higher laws than those made by humans that instruct us to be our brother’s keeper.

Thankfully, so far, my vision is just that.

For thousands of people right now, it’s their reality to watch a loved one suffer from COVID as their eyes plead for help.

And that’s only if they’re allowed to be with the infected person.

Please exercise your RIGHT to help humanity win this war with a vaccination rather than siding with the enemy, COVID.

This letter is being written to answer the plea in my baby’s eyes.

I hope it “does something” and gives you something to think about.

Please accept your “weapon” and join the fight to eradicate COVID before it’s too late — before you’re gazing into pleading eyes.

As I end this letter, the vaccination rate, according to the report in this newspaper, is 37.19% of those in Hopkins County, over the age of 12.

To win this war, we need a vaccination rate of over 90%. You CAN make a difference.

When you take the vaccine, you may feel flulike symptoms for a day or two.

That shows that the vaccine is doing its job — to help your body develop immunity.

Isn’t it better to feel a little bad for a short while as opposed to getting COVID and taking a chance of being in the hospital for weeks, or even months, or perhaps never making it out alive?

While it’s true that there are people who have died from the vaccine, they represent a minute percentage of those who have taking the vaccine — not near the percentage that COVID kills.

They are true heroes of this war.

Their deaths have provided scientists with clues to make the vaccine safer for others.

Patricia Connally

Sulphur Springs