Michael Abrahams | ‘Picking a side’ in the fight against COVID-19

“Pick a side,” she said, clearly irritated by my commentaries regarding the management of COVID-19. My friend of many years, whom I love and respect dearly, was taking me to task about my public remarks concerning the pandemic, and accusing me of “muddying the water”. She expressed disappointment in me not using my platform to encourage people to get vaccinated.

But I have been doing so. During several interviews on different local television and radio stations, I have declared that I am vaccinated and have encouraged others to do the same. I have also taken to multiple social media platforms encouraging people to get vaccinated, including posting information regarding vaccination sites and dates when vaccines would be available for administration. As for this newspaper, The Gleaner, I have written articles with titles such as ‘Why I took the COVID-19 vaccine, and why you should, too’, ‘A vaccination plea’, and ‘How your decision to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine can affect others’. Clearly, I support vaccination. But, for some, this is not enough.

During the pandemic, COVID-19 vaccination has become the new religion, and the vaccines the new gods. So, any comment on the issue that fails to praise and worship the vaccines, or dares to addresses their shortcomings, is deemed blasphemous and its utterer fit to be excommunicated, or ‘read out’ of church.

But this is by no means a black-and-white issue. There are many, maybe even more than 50 shades of grey in this contentious imbroglio. Unfortunately, many folks who support vaccination are unable, or unwilling, to see the grey. In their minds you are either for vaccination or you are not. And for them, being for vaccination means little or no mention of early treatment, the value of natural immunity, the rejection of mandates, and concerns about vaccine efficacy and safety.

DIVIDE DEVELOPED

So a divide has developed , with people being assigned to ‘sides’ based on their compliance with the dictates of international and local health organisations. But as lead, ash, pewter, slate and graphite exist in the grey colour scale, so do varying views of those, like myself, who support vaccination. Some of us stridently support vaccination, believing that everyone, including young children, should be vaccinated; that vaccination should be mandatory; and that the unvaccinated are a selfish group who should be shunned and denied certain privileges.

However, my view is more nuanced. I have always supported vaccination for COVID-19, but I also believe in being honest. I believe I should speak not only of the benefits, but also of the risks of vaccination, and that people should be empowered with enough information to enable them to make informed decisions about their health. My refusal to denigrate the unvaccinated has provoked the ire of many, including some colleagues, who have accused me of being ambivalent and unclear in my messaging.

Interestingly, there are many who clearly comprehend me, and view this pandemic through the same lens I do. However, if you have read or heard my COVID-19-related comments and are unsure where I stand, I will take this opportunity to state clearly and unequivocally that I support vaccination for COVID-19. I am fully vaccinated, as are all members of my household who are eligible, and I also encourage the majority of my patients to do likewise.

I wish to also state that supporting vaccination does not mean supporting vaccination ALONE as an intervention to manage this pandemic. In addition to vaccination, I support the appropriate wearing of masks, physical distancing, handwashing and sanitizing, and proper respiratory hygiene, as advocated by health authorities globally. However, I also support early treatment, the recognition of natural immunity (immunity acquired after being infected by COVID-19), having robust vitamin D levels, and exercise as tools to protect us against the deleterious effects of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. There is research that validates all of these, but for some reason, major international health organisations and mainstream media have not seen it fit to educate us about them fulsomely. But people need to know, and I am willing to inform them.

BINARY THINKING

And herein lies the problem. During the pandemic, a strange and unfortunate type of binary thinking has germinated, taken root and flourished, wherein people believe you are either for vaccination OR early treatment, or you support either vaccination OR natural immunity. For some reason, many persons cannot wrap their heads around the concept of supporting vaccination AND the use of other methods. In other words, embracing a multipronged approach.

Let’s face it, some people will never take the vaccines. So what am I, as a physician, to do? Abandon them? My empathy for them is seen by some as encouragement of their ‘wayward’ behaviour. But it is not. The obstinacy of some of them disturbs me, even angering me at times, and their choices have the potential to affect the lives of others. But so do the choices of tobacco smokers and people who drink alcohol excessively, but I do not abandon them either.

As a physician, empathy is a critical component of my thought process. And so is honesty with those under my care. Sometimes the truth causes discomfort, and we humans have a tendency to hear what we want to hear and dismiss narratives that conflict with our own, even when they are valid and ours are flawed.

I see no reason to “pick a side” during this predicament. My views do not align with those who oppose vaccination. But they do not mirror those of some who support it either. I am capable of independent thought and of drawing my own conclusions.

So, yes, I support vaccination, but I also support a multipronged approach to managing the pandemic, and I believe people should not be forced to be vaccinated. It is as simple as that. Is that hard to understand?

Michael Abrahams is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, social commentator and human-rights advocate. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and michabe_1999@hotmail.com, or follow him on Twitter @mikeyabrahams.