The Retirement Newsletter: Why you should get a COVID-19 jab
Issue Number: -115 — Looking at why you should get a COVID-19 jab
Welcome
Welcome to newsletter -115, and before I start, a big thanks to the kind person who bought me a cup of tea this week. Thank you!
Last week, I wrote about why you should get the flu vaccine this winter (see Get your flu jab NOW!). This week, I will be looking at COVID-19. Again, it is another long newsletter as this is something I feel strongly about — getting a COVID-19 jab.
Planning for your retirement
One reason for getting a COVID-19 jab is so you don't catch COVID-19 and die before you can enjoy your retirement.
The Future — what are you going to do?
A second reason for getting a COVID-19 jab is even if you survive a COVID-19 infection, evidence suggests the virus may do long-term damage to your body. The damage could limit your retirement plans.
Health
Please note, I am not a medical doctor. I hold a PhD in Biochemistry. During my 30+ year career as a biochemist, I have taught undergraduates about proteins and cells. I have supervised PhD students. I have run undergraduate labs, done research, and published scientific papers. So, I know a bit about science and research. The following is an opinion piece and not a scholarly article — there are no citations, and it's not written in 'science style'.
COVID-19
As a scientist, I find COVID-19 fascinating. How did the virus jump into humans? How does the virus spread and cause damage? Plus, I am amazed at the speed at which the scientific community has developed treatments and vaccines. And I have found society's reaction to the virus fascinating.
For 40 years, I have feared the arrival of a virus like COVID-19.
In the 1980s, when I was an undergrad, I had a virology course on my biochemistry. At the time I took the course, two things surprised and worried me.
The first surprise was the Spanish Flu. The numbers from the Spanish Flu outbreak were terrifying. Even now, I find them staggering. For this piece, I checked them at the CDC 1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus) website because I thought I had misremembered:
Total infected worldwide: 500 million (one-third of the world population)
Total deaths: 50 million
The Spanish Flu caused an estimated 50 million deaths. It is a staggering number. One in ten of those infected died, one in thirty people on the planet died from the Spanish Flu. The First World War killed 20 million people. Spanish Flu killed 2.5 times more people than the First World War.
Now, here is the odd thing. My grandparents talked about the Great War, as they often called it, but I can't remember them ever mentioning the Spanish Flu. And yet, for every person they knew killed in the First World War, they could have known 2 or 3 people who died from the Spanish Flu. Why wasn't it ever talked about? I know of relatives killed in the First World War, but in my family, there is no oral family history of anyone dying from the Spanish Flu. It is odd.
I am not suggesting that the Spanish Flu didn't happen; the records show it did. It appears that the Spanish Flu has been wiped from society's memory.
So, how do the COVID-19 and Spanish Flu death rates compare? Well, it may surprise you to hear that there is no worldwide number for COVID-19. The current official figure is around 5 million (think about that for a minute — 5 million people). Still, recent analysis suggests that it may be between 10.3 and 19.4 million (see The pandemic's true death toll). Almost as high as the Spanish Flu, and the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over.
The second thing on the virology course that shocked me was the lecturer saying we were overdue for another pandemic. The lecture was in the mid-1980s. I have been waiting for the pandemic to arrive ever since, and now, 40 years later, COVID-19 is here.
The COVID-19 Pandemic
So, why is COVID-19 so bad? Well, it's not. It could have been a lot worse. The early strains of COVID-19 weren't as infectious as many other viruses. If the early variants of COVID-19 had been as contagious as, say, chickenpox, it would have been a very different story.
As the early variants of COVID-19 weren't very infectious, it was slow to spread and was easier to contain. And this gave scientists time to develop treatments and vaccines.
Why should I get a COVID-19 vaccine?
The real question is — why wouldn't you get a COVID-19 vaccine?
I have seen many arguments on the web, and multiple conspiracy theories, about how COVID-19 came to be and why you shouldn't get the vaccine. And I am not going to discuss any of them here, as I don’t want to add further online content about such things. Instead, I will tell you why you should get a vaccine, and for me, it comes down to three reasons:
Reason 1: You want to avoid getting sick with COVID-19
Yes, treatments are now available, but the long-term health implications due to COVID-19 are unknown. Having the jab will reduce your chances of catching COVID-19. If you get the virus and you have had the jab, you are less likely to be seriously ill.
Reason 2: For the good of your local community
If you catch COVID-19 and have had the jab, the data shows that you are less likely to pass on the virus. Plus, you will recover more quickly and be infectious for a shorter period. The vaccine gives your immune system a head start. Your immune system can ramp up more rapidly and clear the virus from your system.
Reason 3: For the good of all humans
Reason number three comes back to something I wrote about in Issue -116: Get your flu jab NOW! — mutations.
Mutations in a virus can be good news or bad news. With COVID-19, we have already seen some mutations that have made the virus more contagious — for example, the delta variant.
As I said in Issue -116: Get your flu jab NOW!, mutations are random changes in the "blueprint" of the virus. These mutations are a bit like rolling a die; you don't know if you will get a one or a six. That is, you don’t know when and where the mutations may occur, or their outcome.
Now, let's say that rolling a six means that the virus becomes more contagious, and you have to roll the die. What would you rather do? Roll one die or roll 100 dice?
If you roll 100 dice, then you are bound to have at least one six. That die, the six, is the person with the new mutation that is more contagious. Not good.
If you roll one die, the chances of getting a 6 are a lot less. Less chance of a mutation.
My argument here is that we need to keep the number of dice (infections) low as that helps reduce the chances of new variants that could be more contagious. Hence, get a jab, and don't become a die in the game of COVID-19 mutations.
Interestingly, there is a balance here. The virus wants to be more contagious, as that means it will be able to spreads more. However, it wants to avoid being more deadly because if it kills its host before it can spread, it will not spread.
Summary
Please get the COVID-19 jab.
I have had both of mine, and I am currently waiting for my booster.
And finally, just because you have been double, or even triple, jabbed — please keep wearing a mask as you can still catch the virus. Wearing a mask will reduce your chances of catching the virus and spreading it.
And please note, I am not a medical doctor. I hold a PhD in Biochemistry. During my 30+ year career as a biochemist, I have taught undergraduates about proteins and cells. I have supervised PhD students. I have run undergraduate labs. I have done research and published scientific papers. So, I know a bit about science and research. The above is an opinion piece based on my knowledge as a scientist. It is not a scholarly article.
Useful links
Useful COVD-19 links:
UK NHS COVID-19 website — lots of links to information on COVID-19
CDC COVID-19 website — lots of links to information on COVID-19
Next week
OK, next week…
After two weeks of gloomy heath stuff, next week, I will fantasise about ten things I will do on the first day of my retirement. What will they be?
Thanks
Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please don't hesitate to share it with your friends or on social media using the buttons below.
If you would like to say 'thanks for the newsletter, why not buy me a cup of tea? And a big thank you to the person who bought me a cup of tea this week! Thanks!
Until next time,
Nick
PS, If you have something you would like to contribute to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.