A physician's plea to the unvaccinated

Dan Moul, our local state representative, deserves much thanks and praise for his sincere advice in the Friday, Aug. 6 edition’s front page of our Gettysburg Times. Dan’s quote, “It is absolutely not a political issue. The virus does not know the difference between Republican and Democrat. I just want people to be safe.” “Please seriously consider getting vaccinated against COVID-19.” As a long-time family physician in the Gettysburg area, I could not agree with Dan more on his advice. As of August 6, the COVID ActNow website lists Adams County vaccination rates as 42.4% for those receiving one vaccine and 39.4% for those fully vaccinated. These numbers are not nearly high enough if we want to go safely back to our lives as we lived them prior to the pandemic, without masks, social distancing, and restrictions for meeting in public.

We have too many fellow Adams countians who have thus far chosen against receiving the COVID-19 vaccines available. As I continue to take care of patients at Fisher Road Family Practice in Mechanicsburg, PA, I believe that I have heard nearly every reason used by those who have chosen to skip the vaccine. The Gettysburg Times published an excellent article in its July 2021 Good Health Care section entitled “Debunking myths about the COVID-19 vaccines.” This piece was written as a result of the combined efforts of the medical experts from Johns Hopkins Medicine, the CDC, the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic Health System, four of the most trusted sources of medical research and information in the world, not just our country. If you have not yet received your COVID-19 vaccines, please read this piece. It should be available through the paper’s archives.

Dr. John Goldman, our leading expert for UPMC Pinnacle, now UPMC Central PA, has been providing updates throughout the pandemic. He provided numbers early this year that remain relevant. If you develop COVID-19, your risk of dying is 1:1000, and the risk of long-term complications from COVID-19 is 1:10 patients. A more recent report from the American Medical Association indicates that becoming fully immunized cuts a person’s risk of COVID-19 by sevenfold in comparison with those who are unvaccinated. Vaccination slashes the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization or death by twentyfold.

In contrast, your risk of a serious side effect from the vaccine is 1:300,000. As of July 23, 2021, 339 million vaccine doses had been given in the U.S. to 187.2 million people. The FDA has received reports of 6,207 deaths among people who received the vaccine from 12/20/20 until 7/19/21. However, after careful review by the CDC and the FDA, only three of these deaths seemed to be due to blood clots triggered by the vaccine. There is no evidence that the other 6,204 deaths were related to the vaccines. Let me emphasize, only three deaths appear to be due to the vaccine in the U.S. while until now, 611,958 Americans have died from the virus.

We all hoped that the worst was over earlier this summer as many of the restrictions and recommendations for mitigation were lifted. However, there are now very significant surges in the disease over the last month, particularly in the Southeast. These surges are due to the delta variant of the original virus which is twice as contagious as the original virus. Worse, the delta variant may cause more severe illness than the previous strains in unvaccinated people. In the last three weeks we have discovered that there can be “breakthrough cases” of the virus in vaccinated patients who are then capable of transmitting the virus to others. The vaccinated who do get infected are exponentially less likely to develop severe disease that leads to hospitalization or death. The vaccine works! The rare, vaccinated person who is infected, if capable of spreading the virus, does so for a much shorter timespan than the unvaccinated, infected individual.

Referring to Dan Moul’s frontpage article last week one more time, I respectfully disagree with his skepticism regarding the effectiveness of masks. In fact, there is mounting research that strongly suggests the protection provided by wearing masks. A study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the March 12, 2021 edition, concluded that state-issued mask mandates from March 1-December 31,2020 were associated with a decrease in daily COVID-19 case and death growth rates within 20 days of implementation. I have had the healthiest year of my career. My wife and I truly believe this is due to the mandate that all of us wear a mask within our building since the pandemic began.

The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Situation Report from Friday, August 6, states, “Despite considerable vaccination coverage at the national level, daily incidence continues to accelerate, mirroring the early stages of previous surges. Daily incidence is now up to nearly 90,000 new cases per day, the highest average since February 13. Daily mortality also continues to increase, up to 377 deaths per day, which is more than double the most recent low on July 10, 174 deaths.”

For the reasons stated above--the effectiveness of the vaccine in reducing the risk of serious disease, hospitalization and death, the proven benefit of reducing and slowing the spread of the delta variant by wearing masks particularly in inside spaces, and the present surge of delta variant cases in our country and county--I implore those who have chosen not to receive the vaccine thus far or have chosen to prevent their children 12 and older from being vaccinated, that you reconsider your decision, and be vaccinated as soon as possible. Time is of the essence. If we can rapidly vaccinate another 10-20% of our county, we can markedly improve our chances of going back to the lives we all want to live, without masks, without concerns for communing with others, and going back to parties, bars, concerts, church, and ballgames without fear of catching the virus or spreading the virus to others.

I say this as a family physician of over 35 years. I say this without any expectation of personal gain except to regain confidence that we can all live the lives we want to live, that we can have our freedom back without fear of the virus. I have told patients and fellow staff members at Fisher Road Family practice that I want to cry when I meet patients who refuse to receive the vaccine because they have been convinced by misinformation in their media sources of “truth” that convince them to avoid the vaccine or to not wear a mask indoors despite the present surge.

Let’s do this for our love of our nation. Let’s all get vaccinated as we are able to do so, let’s wear a mask in public indoor spaces until the surge passes, and let’s, as quickly as possible, get back to life the way we all want to live it.

I love my family, my friends, my community, and my country. Do you love yours?

Dwight Michael, M.D., a family physician, is a member of the Gettysburg Area Democracy for America’s Healthcare Task Force.