Alpha, Delta, and Now Omicron: The Surge in Varieties That Need to be Shot Down

December 4, 2021- 20 Months into the COVID- 19 Global Pandemic. We've been in a global pandemic for almost two years now. It's insane to think about what life was like before the pandemic and what life will be like once this pandemic is over. If it's ever over that is. The vaccine has been out, as has the booster, yet there is so much misinformation that has spread, that has made people wary of even getting the vaccine.

The first thing I want to make clear, A vaccine is NOT a cure, it is a preventative measure. What that means is that the vaccine will prevent SEVERE cases of COVID from happening. The more severe symptoms, i.e. organ failure, difficulty breathing, your body failing altogether will be more likely prevented if you get the COVID vaccine. At the worst, if you get COVID and you've gotten the vaccine, you'll have cold/flu-like symptoms. That is something that can be easily dealt with. However, if you do not get the vaccine, you'll be faced with collapsing lungs, failing organs, difficulty breathing, etc, etc, etc. I could keep going about all the horrific symptoms that can occur if you choose to not get the vaccine and end up getting COVID.

I'm going to say this again, a vaccine is NOT a cure. It is only a STOP-GAP. It will not kill the virus, it will not cure a person and keep them from getting the virus again and again.

We all saw what the Delta variant did once it got across the entire globe. It was butchering India and many of the developing countries in South Asia. It was killing so many people here in the US. Yet, people still refuse to get the vaccine, because of the massive amounts of misinformation that has been spread, and the belief that the Virus itself is not as bad as it seems.

First, if this virus is ever to come under control, the entire population of any given country needs to reach herd immunity. That means, at least 70 percent of any country's population needs to have both doses of the vaccine for there to be any effect in controlling an outbreak of COVID. What everyone fails to realize, is that this strand of virus is far more adaptive than any known viral organism known to man. And because of this adaptability, it makes it even trickier to control, especially if people are unwilling to get the vaccines or practice any of the guidelines the CDC had made. We aren't making it any easier for the doctors, and nurses, and all the front-line workers who have been dealing with this pandemic head-on for almost two years now. What was once such a desired field for many young adults, has now faced a massive shortage because of this global pandemic. Because people aren't listening to what the doctors are trying to say, and because they are making all the front-line workers' lives much harder to live. It's not easy being a doctor, nurse, EMT, surgeon, or any kind of medical field professional. They have to hold people's lives in their hands and have to make decisions for them to ensure they can survive. That's not easy. Because one wrong move can kill a person.

We need to change. We, as the public, need to change and start respecting those front-line workers who have worked so hard for these last two years. We need to try to make their lives easier, by reducing the spread of COVID-19. We need to develop massive herd immunities in our communities if we are ever going to get any leeway in this virus. Start getting vaccinated. If you are scared of dealing with the side effects of the vaccine, because of how severe it has been for some people, do it anyway. Because just like with anything else, if you are afraid to do something, it won't be any less scary until you do it anyways. And just cause you get the vaccine alone, doesn't mean you won't have friends or family who will help you try to get through with dealing with the other side effects either. We are about to be faced with our fourth winter surge of COVID, and we have a new variant to deal with as well. We can't keep refusing to get the vaccine.