Vaccinated!
I didn’t get much writing done this week. Though I did get vaccinated!
No blog posts — though I did write on this week’s Gospel three years ago. You can see it by clicking here.
I may still get a post up. But it’s Thursday night and I have that vaguely hit-by-a-truck feeling.
No complaints. It’s the last (hopefully) residual after-effect of getting vaccinated.
Saturday I was pretty much down for the count. Not as bad as the flu. More like a really very bad cold without the sniffles. Each day it is better. The last couple days I’ve felt like I was quite over it until around dinner time. Then I feel pretty wiped.
A Good Trade
It’s a trade-off. I’ll admit, it was a little strange getting a shot that I thought would likely make me feel pretty crummy for a few days. I knew several who had the Moderna and felt some days of significant after-effects.
But there is a very clear trade-off.
- Moderna vaccine: At least one day, but probably less than a week, feeling rotten.
- COVID-19: Significant chance of a lonely, miserable death in the ICU.
The vaccine wins, hands down.
An Intelligent choice
I don’t know if you are already vaccinated, or holding back with doubts of one kind or another. If you are someone who likes to read what I write, who trusts my voice in any small way, then let me just say it: Get vaccinated.
The best scientists in the world teamed up to get us working vaccines in one heck of a hurry. Still, they tested using solid scientific models with tens of thousands of volunteers.
Scientists trained to evaluate risks with the utmost care found that the vaccines work and that they are safe.
There’s no plot here — unless you think of bringing great minds and huge resources together to save human lives can be called a plot.
Getting vaccinated is the smart thing to do. You’ll likely live longer. Choosing life is honoring the God who gave you that life.
If you love God and value lives made in God’s image, save one. Yours. Get vaccinated.
An Act of Love
If you still have lingering doubts, and you are a Christian, remember that Jesus said that loving your neighbor was right up there beside loving God.
Get vaccinated as a way of loving your neighbor.
The vaccine is not going to kill you. You might feel bad for a day or a week, But you will stand far less chance of infecting other people if you are immune due to vaccination.
Jesus said it quite nicely:
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 13:15 NRSV
Paraphrase:
Greater love hath no one than to roll up their sleeve, take the jab, and persevere through the side effects — so that you don’t infect and kill some elderly relative or some friend with a compromised immune system.
Seriously, O Christian. Love your neighbor. Get vaccinated.
(I usually get a lot more readers than commenters. If you’ve been vaccinated, let me know below!)
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Jennifer Pattee says
I’m vaccinated and with my new increased immunity I did some work at a coffee shop for the first time in quite awhile. What a blessing!
Gary Neal Hansen says
Hooray! So glad for you.
And thank you for loving your neighbor in this important and tangible way.
I’m still looking forward to my own first coffee shop work time. It’s one of the things I’ve really missed this past year.