The new CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated persons, out this week, are a welcome bit of good news. I’m ready to join those ranks over the next few weeks. My girlfriend and I got our first Moderna shots this morning. We’ve had no side effects at all over the first 8 hours. (Well, my arm feels like I have a minor bruise). In 28 days we’ll get our 2nd shots. And then…

I haven’t spent enough time thinking about what the new normal will look like. One thing is for certain. I won’t ever take the heroic front line workers in grocery stores, restaurants, and delivery services for granted again. Along with the nation’s nurses, these folks have held this county together. I only wish there was something tangible and permanent that could be done to show the appreciation of the country. These are legitimate heroes. And yet before the past year’s crisis, they have been too often overlooked, although they’ve always been invaluable, crucial members of the economic engine. My thanks! You’ve kept us alive, literally.

And yet, in a show of derision for the sacrifices of these workers, and in disregard of the deadliness of the pandemic, many will refuse free, available, effective, life-saving vaccines. I don’t understand the rationale. Likely because there is none.

On one hand, I appreciate skepticism. I am as skeptical and non-conformist as anyone you’ll ever meet. On the other hand, intelligence dictates that healthcare decisions cannot be red or blue. I can understand being willing to risk your life, or even die for a belief. I have a belief like that, myself. But, I’ll never understand a belief that allows a person to rationalize risking someone else’s life, just to avoid what, exactly?

Regardless of what the ignorant choose to do, thank you to all those who choose to be vaccinated. And for those who won’t do it I suppose there’s nothing I’m going to say to change your mind. A wise person said, when people want to show you what they are like, believe them. Some decisions in life have very few repercussions. This one is not that.

Of course it’s possible these shots may not be full-on, lifetime vaccines in the traditional sense. They may require intermittent boosters. But as someone who contracted Covid, I feel fortunate to have had a relatively mild case. Still, it wasn’t without challenges. And there is a an unknown element to possible future lingering or latent effects. You don’t want to get this, and if you’re a decent human being at all, you don’t want to give it to anyone either.