People of color are vulnerable to COVID risk factors, and are more likely to be working front-line, essential jobs that cannot be performed from home, increasing their chances of being infected.
Getting vaccinated can provide protection for you and those you love. A study published in August indicates that if you had COVID before and are not vaccinated, your risk of getting reinfected is more than two times higher than for those who were infected and got vaccinated.
Getting vaccinated provides greater protection to others since the vaccine helps reduce the spread of COVID Older people and those living with chronic medical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes are more likely to experience severe — even fatal — cases of COVID if they catch it. The more people who receive the coronavirus vaccines, the sooner vulnerable people can feel safe among others. Also, since every COVID infection gives the coronavirus a chance to mutate, being vaccinated helps prevent variants.
Some people may have missed getting all the required shots. Not getting a full course of a vaccine leaves a person unprotected and still at risk for getting a disease. Other vaccinations require a booster shot every few years to ensure that the level of immunity remains high.
Missing a shot may not seem like a bad thing — nobody wakes up in the morning thinking they'd love to go out and get a jab in the arm. But there are good reasons to get shots:. One little "ouch" moment protects you from some major health problems.
For example, older teens and adults who get diseases like mumps may be at risk for side effects of the illness, such as infertility the inability to have children. Vaccinations are about protecting you in the future, not just as a kid.
Many of the diseases that we are vaccinated against when we're kids — like hepatitis B or tetanus — actually affect more adults than kids. Plus, anyone can get "kid diseases" like chickenpox, and they can be far more dangerous to teens and adults than they are to little kids. Shots could even save your life. Hepatitis B attacks the liver and can eventually kill. The HPV vaccine can protect against several types of cancer. And scientists are constantly working on new vaccines against deadly diseases like HIV.
So which vaccines should you be getting? Doctors now recommend that teens are vaccinated against the following diseases:. You can still get a shot if you've missed it. Some of the unvaccinated are afraid or balk at being told what to do, but appealing to their care for others may help overcome their hesitancy. In a study by Larson and colleagues, researchers interviewed 8, people in the U.
Appealing to our shared vulnerability may also be important, says Larson, as a continuing pandemic thwarts goals everyone shares—like reopening businesses and strengthening our weakened economy.
For example, John an alias got vaccinated as soon as he was eligible, but members of his extended family refused the vaccine.
When many of them became sick and his vaccine-resistant uncle died from COVID, John felt both grief and fury at his family.
Also, if unvaccinated friends and family ask you to be in their company, for whatever reason, you should feel perfectly fine refusing, says Larson. On the other hand, she says, we can take hope in the fact that people may change their minds on their own.
As unvaccinated people face more restrictions—or find friends and relatives leaving them out of activities—that may be more impactful than any particular message you can give them. Jill Suttie, Psy. She received her doctorate of psychology from the University of San Francisco in and was a psychologist in private practice before coming to Greater Good.
Become a subscribing member today. The whole world will only be safe after ensuring that all populations are adequately vaccinated. Unless vaccinated countries completely shut their borders from the rest of the world, there would always be some interaction between their citizens and citizens from unvaccinated countries.
To protect themselves against the virus, governments need to quickly roll out vaccines. Vaccines provide the most effective and controllable prevention measures to contain any viral infection. As different countries wait to access vaccines and vaccinate their populations, the other public health measures that are known to slow down or mitigate the spread of COVID should continue to be enforced.
This will limit the intra-community and inter-community spread of the virus, reducing the rate of reproduction and mutations. These include imposing lockdowns and mass quarantines in a geographically targeted manner. Monitoring the infection rate and extent of spread of the virus through laboratory testing for detection of the virus — and genomic testing for mutations — is key in informing and guiding the authorities on what steps to take.
Testing capacity therefore needs to be scaled up, including tests that detect the virus — such as PCR and antigen tests — and serological antibody tests which check for those who have had the infection before and have developed some immunity. Having this data will allow for serosurveillance mapping — testing for antibodies — and monitoring.
0コメント