I was sitting in a doctor’s office at St. Mary’s in Huntington yesterday and the intake nurse explains to me that 26,000 people have died worldwide from COVID-19 vaccinations. So, in the 5-7 minutes it took for the doctor to come in the room, I did some investigation on my own.

Assuming what she told me was correct (I could not find any credible information to verify it as true, but let’s assume) 5.13 billion people have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine worldwide. Assuming my math is also correct, 26,000 deaths is about 0.0005068226 percent of the total vaccinated. It’s sad, but we know that no vaccine is fully without risk.

For a comparison, the CDC reports that a childhood MMR vaccine carries with it a 1 in 3,000-4,000 risk of developing febrile seizures 6-14 days after the vaccine. That’s a risk of 0.025 percent…a much greater risk than the COVID-19 vaccines. Indeed, many of our childhood immunizations carry higher risk factors than the COVID-19 vaccines.

There have been 4,495,272 deaths worldwide from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. That’s 0.0577390685 percent of a global population of 7,785,494,500. Conclusion, you actually have a much higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than from any vaccine.

Folks, everyone is entitled to their own thoughts, and opinions, but they aren’t entitled to their own set of facts. I was gobsmacked that, sitting in a medical facility, I had a supposed medical professional telling me that the COVID-19 vaccine carried a greater risk than the virus itself.

It simply isn’t true. But if she believes that, she needs to keep her opinion to herself. People need truth, not opinions.

Facts matter, and here was someone who supposedly has more education than me but was unable to do some simple math and fact checking as I did. We need to to remember that just because someone works in the medical field, it does not make them an expert on virology, chemistry, or in vaccinations. Unless a person is a specialist in these areas they likely are not well informed. Many doctors aren’t even fully educated in this field of medicine.
I read a news article yesterday where a gentleman had a friend who stated that most medical professionals recommended against the COVID-19 vaccines. So he tested that statement and sent out emails to 200 doctors and specialists around the country, of those doctors who responded to his questionnaire, 100 percent of them recommended getting fully vaccinated and stated that the benefits outweighed the risks.

Those physicians also pointed out that the medical “professionals” who are advising against the vaccines are often fringe or disgruntled physicians. I personally wouldn’t trust them with my health.

Listen, my nephew’s grandmother was just laid to rest a couple of weeks ago because of COVID-19. She was an anti-vaxxer and the virus took her very quickly. She was an active and healthy person. It didn’t have to happen.

Please get vaccinated. Please wear a mask in public. If we’re in this together, then let’s all take one for the team and do our part.

Richard Duvendeck II
Chesapeake