Many South Carolinians are hesitant to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine. Individuals’ reasonings vary, but a majority are uncertain because of conscientious objections, religious convictions, a history of prior vaccine injury and/or concerns over safety, including the lack of short- and long-term safety data.
Most of those who plan to delay or decline the COVID vaccine have kept themselves informed of the latest information regarding the brand-new vaccine since the pandemic began one year ago. They have followed news from various doctors, scientists and researchers from all over the world and found there is no consensus as to the safety and efficacy of any of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Actually, most who are following as this unforlds do not refer to COVID shots as “vaccines.” According to the World Health Organization, a vaccine contains “a killed or weakened form of a virus or bacteria, which trains our bodies to recognize and fight the disease if we encounter it in the future.” Vaccines, as we have traditionally known them, prevent infection of the immunized person and prevent the spread of an illness to other people. However, these new products are not proven to do either and are only purported to lower the risk of serious symptoms that, according to Worldometer, less than 1 percent of patients experience without vaccine intervention. Calling these shots “vaccines” has Americans confused.
As such, there is no basis upon which to require individuals to submit to this medical intervention against their own will. Instead, each individual should be allowed to decide how to best care for their own body.
In December, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released guidance making it clear that employees cannot rely on EEOC protections to make their own vaccine decisions based upon reasons of disability or religion. Thus, state laws are the only protection available to workers to guarantee individuals the basic human right to decide which medicines to use and when to do so.
Some things we do know:
1) Over $4 billion has been paid out by the government’s vaccine injury compensation fund to vaccine-injured individuals and families of those killed by a vaccine – many of them adults harmed by the flu vaccine. Many adults – especially those who work in health care or who are refull-time residents of long-term care facilities – may only have accepted these injections because of coercion similar to that being used with the new COVID-19 shot.
2) An estimated 1 percent of all vaccine-related injuries and deaths are reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, a Harvard study that concluded in 2009. If the government wants to promote and encourage vaccines, a better accounting for risks and benefits is needed.
3) Pharmaceutical companies bear no liability for damage caused by their vaccines, raising concerns that there may be no incentive for them to ensure both immediate and long-term safety of their vaccines. Vaccination-related injury does not always occur immediately upon injection – rarely does someone die immediately upon inoculation. However, those who are concerned with vaccine safety are looking at longer-term reactions, such as the incidence of autoimmune disorders, and whether they may be traced back to immunizations.