IN JABS WE TRUST …
Sunday, December 12, 2021
In boxing, jab is one of four key punches (jab, hook, uppercut, straight right), which get melded with techniques (crouching, bobbing, weaving) and styles (positioning, footwork, counterpunching).
I’m no expert.
I’ve never boxed.
I found those terms by Googling.
Does that make me an expert?
Of course not.
Reading random information about boxing gives me no advantage in any scuffle.
We’ve seen/heard people espousing non-scientific viewpoints and random falsehoods during this pandemic because they think they are experts-because-of-reading questionable data. Most people (politicians especially) know even less about pandemics and vaccines than I know about boxing. If put in the field to treat patients or vaccinate children, we nearly all equally lack skills or correct information.
I got two jabs of Pfizer vaccine earlier in the year; my first available date for a booster was Friday, and I got mine yesterday – the very next day. Yay!
But that makes me no expert, doesn’t prove I’ve made a good decision.
I’m not worried.
I trust medical science.
I trust the public health authorities – CDC, FDA, WHO, NIH, the drug companies, the Government medical experts who say it is safe and recommended, not because I have any special knowledge, but from confidence in their abilities …
But there is more than walking around feeling safe to make one secure; it takes more than the comfort from knowing so many people are vaccinated and that improved treatments are making it less scary to get COVID – fewer people (except the unvaccinated) are getting sick, fewer are being hospitalized, and fewer are dying. Poor and developing countries without vaccinations are more perilous places to live – but they are riskier places to be every day.
The real risky place to be, right now, is the same for all of us – is it not?
That place is in our heads.
What goes on there is a mess of reality dashing hopes, reality messing with plans, reality creating anxiety, reality crushing lives, a reality unsettling everyone. Then we turn on the news, and more geo-political crap reality, supply-chain reality too. All the makings of nightmares – it’s enough to make us all a little frightened, but that doesn’t mean we are enlightened.
What is the point of this column?
For the vaccine-convinced, nothing new.
For the vaccine-avoiders, maybe an argument that will get a few people vaccinated so they can avoid serious illness.
You know what I mean, like the way your car seems to run better when you wash it. It doesn’t actually run better, but it feels like it does. Intellectually we know that, but we still enjoy the smoother ride.
Vaccinations are like that too. Getting my 3rd jab didn’t make me suddenly healthier or more immune (it takes time for antibodies to manifest), but I feel better now, less stress in the shoulders, lighter on my feet – feeling better protected from the scourge of the virus come to dread.
Will I live longer and avoid COVID-19 because of my vaccination?
Experts think so.
I trust them.
We are, all, in the ring with an invisible opponent COVID-19 – and endless reading, debating, googling, and re-tweeting gossip won’t help us. We need science, cooperation, vaccinations, and a dose of good luck.
Why do I feel that way?
I trust medical experts.
And, to Alberta residents only: THIRD ACTion Film Festival is doing a 50/50 raffle again – buy a ticket, be a winner + make the pot richer, for a great cause – draw date is Dec. 22nd.