If you are interested in attending the clinic to receive your vaccination, please reply to this email to ensure the appropriate amount of vaccines are available.
Below is information provided by our Dr. Kasey Holder:
If you're thinking "I'm not sure the vaccines are safe and effective." COVID-19 vaccines have been proven safe and effective. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines specifically are highly effective against all the known variants of COVID. Risks of serious adverse events from the vaccine are incredibly rare and are easily outweighed by the benefit of protection from covid. Side effects from the vaccines, if any are experienced, are largely mild and short lived (12-24 hrs). No long term side effects have been identified in the over 162 million vaccinated individuals.
If you're thinking "I've already had COVID. I don't need to get vaccinated." Immunity from natural infection is less effective than immunity from vaccines and is also inconsistent. In other words, one individual that had covid will develop a certain degree of immunity and another individual that had covid will develop a different degree of immunity meaning they will each be at different risks of reinfection. We also do not know how long immunity from natural infection lasts but current thought is only about 90 days. Immunity from vaccination is more consistent, robust and long lasting.
If you're thinking "I know someone that got covid after they were vaccinated. Why would I get vaccinated?" No vaccine is 100% effective at preventing infection. There will be individuals that develop covid after vaccination, although that is uncommon. However, the covid vaccines are near 100% effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. Since Jan 26, 2021, 98.3% of hospitalizations and 99.6% of deaths related to covid have been in unvaccinated individuals.
If you're thinking "I'm young and healthy. I don't need to get vaccinated". The average age of hospitalization and death due to COVID has decreased by 10 years from Nov 2020. The Delta variant, which is now the predominant variant in the US, is causing severe illness requiring hospitalization, respiratory support and even death in young (20-50 yr olds and less commonly children/teenagers), otherwise healthy individuals. This is no longer an illness of older adults. An individual's decision to remain unvaccinated not only impacts them but their friends, family and the community at large. Individual immunity prevents you from serving as a vector to spread the virus to people you care about or those that may suffer serious consequences from infection. In addition, viruses can only mutate if they can spread. The high rates of transmission we are having now serve as a breeding ground for new variants which could be more contagious, cause more serious illness or worse, render our current vaccines and other treatments ineffective.
Please consider becoming vaccinated against covid-19. If not for yourself, do it for those that love you. If you have any questions or concerns, please discuss those with your physician to get evidence based, scientific information to help with your decision.
Dr. Kasey Holder
