I have heard that many devotees refuse to get vaccinated because they're waiting for everyone else to get vaccinated so that the entire population will develop "herd immunity," and then they won't have to do anything.
First of all, reaching the levels of infection needed to achieve herd immunity without a vaccine could be devastating, and leading to an extraordinary number of deaths in our Vaisnava communities.
Last summer, the World Health Organization advised public officials, especially the foolish former leader in the US, as well as ignorant blind leaders in the UK and Brazil against trying to achieve so-called herd immunity to the coronavirus by allowing it to rapidly spread throughout their communities, saying it will overwhelm hospitals and kill a lot of people. Herd immunity is necessary to really contain a virus, according to epidemiologists. That is generally achieved once enough people either get vaccinated or survive the virus so they have the antibodies to fight off new infections and the virus doesn’t have enough new hosts to spread out of control. It is always possible to spread, because it’s never going away completely. Most scientists think 60% to 80% of the population needs to be vaccinated or have natural antibodies to achieve a manageable herd immunity, Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said on a live Q&A streamed across multiple social media platforms. “Whatever that number is, we’re nowhere near close to it, which means this virus has a long way to burn in our communities before we ever reach that,” he added. Simply waiting for herd immunity to happen by allowing the virus to spread, as some opponents of social distancing measures have suggested, is dangerous, he added.
“The idea that we would have herd immunity as an objective, in some sense, it goes against controlling the disease because if you were to say, ‘We need to have a herd immunity of 70% and we should let the virus spread until we get to 70%,’ we’ve seen what happens,” he said. “Hospitals get overwhelmed. A lot of people die.”
Even if people don’t die from the disease, there are still long-term problems, Ryan said. “Anyone who looks at patients who are severe with Covid realizes this is a very severe, multiorgan disease that stresses many systems in the body, the cardiovascular system, the neurologic system. And we have to assume in milder cases a similar process is happening at a milder level.” Young people with Covid-19 have left hospitals healthy, only to experience problems 10 or 15 weeks later, he said. “They can’t run. They can’t exercise, they are out of breath, having coughing fits,” he said. “Who wants or needs that?” The coronavirus has a wide range of symptoms, according to infectious disease experts and doctors who treat patients. Some people can be asymptomatic, where they never develop symptoms, while others get mild symptoms or severe symptoms that require hospitalization and even intensive care.“We have to come to grips that Covid might kill me but it could also debilitate you over a significant period of time. And therefore we have to take it seriously. We have to take protecting ourselves and protecting others seriously,” he said. “At some level, we have the right to potentially risk harm to ourselves. We have no right to risk harm to others.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said it is unlikely the coronavirus will ever be eradicated. While the virus may not totally disappear, it’s possible world leaders and public health officials could work to bring the virus down to low levels. I think with a combination of good public health measures, a degree of global herd immunity and a good vaccine, which I do hope and feel cautiously optimistic that we will get, I think when we put all three of those together, we will get control of this, whether it’s this year or next year. I’m not certain, but I don’t really see us eradicating it.”
Recently, new variants which are rapidly mutating with transmission, and if people wait for "herd immunity" the vaccines could be rendered less effective, which makes the it even more urgent for as many people as possible to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Other devotees have been fed misinformation about vaccines, and continue to believe them, ignoring the experts like Fauci, the CDC, and the World Health Organization.
The WHO highlights six common misconceptions about vaccines:
1.) Diseases were already declining before the invention of vaccines due to improvements in hygiene and sanitation.
2.) Most people who get diseases are already vaccinated.
3.) Some batches of vaccines are safer than others.
4.) Vaccines cause many harmful side effects and illnesses.
5.) The diseases that vaccines prevent are no longer prevalent, so there is no need for vaccines.
6.) Giving children multiple vaccines at once increases the risk of harmful side effects.
My initiating spiritual master got polio before the vaccine was available. He lived, fortunately, but he had a distended belly throughout his life as a side effect. Other people weren't as lucky. Thousands had to go through their whole lives on an archaic respirator called an "iron lung." The 1952 Polio epidemic was the worst year. Of nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis, with most of the victims being children. A Polio vaccine first became available in 1955 – the year I was born.
The coronavirus pandemic is telling the tiny polio epidemic to “Hold My Beer.” Covid has claimed more than a half a million in this country alone, including many dear devotees such as sweet Bhaki Caru Swami. Since the virus is not going away, why would devotees be so callous as to put that off under the false impression that there will eventually be “herd immunity” and risk putting the health and lives of themselves and others in danger in the meantime? It’s one thing to drink, or do drugs and just harm yourself. But it’s whole thing to drive drunk or high and put others in danger. Is it just laziness? Do we think we are immune just because we're devotees? Krishna's devotees are very dear to Him, and their service if very important to the whole world. Otherwise why do we value Srila Prabhupada’s contribution or care to carry on his mission?
If we claim to be servants of Krishna, we should care about His dear servants. Don't be selfish, lazy, callous, or act like you're "above it all." Don't be in maya and imagine that you live in a bubble. Get vaccinated! As soon as it's available to you! In the meantime, take all precautionary measures to protect your Vaisnava community. Don't be so puffed up to think you are so advanced that Krishna will serve you and protect you if you flagrantly flaunt the laws of material nature! Krishna is not our order supplier. If you show a lackadaisical callous disregard for His parts and parcels by your own ignorant mentality and irresponsible behavior, you might get away with it among your peers, but God knows, sooner or later there WILL be a reaction.
