Get Vaccinated! Okay, I understand the hesitation some folks have to be vaccinated, so let’s look at one more reason for a person to get the shot. Let’s say you really believe it’s your business, if you don’t want to get vaccinated, and you figure most kids will be able to survive a case of COVID-19. I’m not saying those are good reasons, it’s just how you are mentally juggling the facts. In other words you believe the vaccine needs to be proven over a longer period of time, and you are wondering if some of those wild side effects might have some validity. And you’re not going to get vaccinated unless you have a good reason. The CDC and millions of vaccinated individuals aren’t good enough. Okay, I’m going to give you the best reason crass, money-loving Americans can have. If you don’t get vaccinated and the damn COVID-19 gets totally out-of-hand again, you unvaccinated folks are going to screw up the economy. Yes, you unvaccinated folks are going to be the sole reason for a bad economy. Just look at the hospital’s admittances and see who is being hospitalized. My God; do you want to go through 2020 again and risk not only a spiking of virus cases, but a real possibility that the virus will cause the economy sink into another recession or worse? You unvaccinated are not only endangering others, but you are a serious threat to the world’s economy! If we don’t get the virus under control your job could be in jeopardy, your stocks could plummet, and you could ultimately lose your job along with all your benefits and retirement funds. Bankrupt companies can’t offer vacations, health coverage, and retirement benefits. Those are facts. Are you willing to risk all of that because you have some goofy idea unsupported by any scientific evidence, which says taking the vaccine shot could possibly do you harm? Well, let me give you more undisputable facts. If you and the millions more who continue to not be vaccinated, then you will risk plunging the world’s economy into a severe recession and possibly a depression, and you don’t care about the millions of kids who aren’t approved to get the vaccine? Kids will die because of the unvaccinated millions! Those are more facts! If you don’t get vaccinated you will be partly responsible for the death of thousands of children, and sooner or later you will very likely get the virus. (That comment is from an infectious disease physician.) Think about that for a minute and reflect on your death if the virus attacks your lungs, and you spend days on a ventilator before you die a horrible death. Or if you manage to recover and the doctor looks at your x-ray’s and comments that you won’t be able to return to work until your damaged lungs improve, and they may never be strong enough to give you a productive life again. Still want to thumb your nose at being vaccinated? Have you ever listened to the unvaccinated men and women on respirators begging for the vaccine? It seems to me that getting vaccinated is like everything else in life. There are risks and rewards. If you are questioning whether being vaccinated is a threat to your health in any way, and you think the Mr. Pillow guy and Sen. Rand Paul just might be right, I suggest you visit a couple of places to see the risks involved by not being vaccinated. Take a quick on-site look at a local emergency room and the Intensive Care Unit. Then ask a nurse how many are vaccinated? When that nurse tells you that almost every person in Intensive Care is unvaccinated that should be enough proof for anyone to take the shot. It’s not as if this idea of getting a vaccine to keep a person from contracting a disease is a new thing. Vaccinations of all kinds have been with us for several generations. Kids can’t attend public schools without a series of vaccinations, and when Vertis and I went to Africa, we had more vaccinations than I can count, and one afternoon we had three at one time including one for cholera. It was just a blip in a day, and we never thought anything about being vaccinated. Over the past century the advent of vaccines has been one of the major accomplishments of medical research, and millions of people’s lives have been saved by vaccines. I’m ready for the COVID-19 booster, and I may be getting a shingles booster. The number of vaccines for the prevention of a variety of diseases has steadily increased over the years, and that is directly related to our increased life expectancy. Recently, life expectancy has taken a dip because of COVID-19, and if you don’t get vaccinated, you have a good chance of being part of the dip. Are you going reach in the hat and draw a black bean, as the Texians at Goliad did, and end your life because you were so damn stupid that you let politics keep you from being vaccinated? Hell yes, being vaccinated is political! Look at the number of unvaccinated Republicans and Democrats. Goofy governors who ban the use of masks, and look at the group at the January 6th Capital riot. How many did you see wearing a mask? Or you saying by not wearing a mask or being vaccinated that you had rather die than be mistaken for a Democrat? If you can give me a reason why a lot more Republicans are refusing being vaccinated than Democrats, I would like to hear it. Today, I believe we are at a crossroad in the virus fight, and the fork in the road is obvious. One direction will take us muddling along until we reach herd immunity and hundreds of thousands more Americans will die including an ever increasing number of children. The other route in the road will necessitate we take the measures to assure +90% of the public, who are qualified to receive vaccinations, are vaccinated. The way to achieve this virus-killing number is to require a vaccination passport, and that COVID-19 passport is no different than the doctor’s note that every public school child has to have before he or she can attend school. We must demand it! Until every grocery store, gas station, and movie theater requires it, we won’t get rid of the virus. Americans have always risen to the challenge, and I believe we will today. LSU is leading the way by demanding a proof of vaccination to gain entry to the football stadium. My God, I hate to say it, but we need to follow LSU’s example. Of course, most of New York City is heading in that direction, and when Walmart make it mandatory to enter a store, we will know the virus is on its way out.