The path to herd immunity from COVID-19 virus is full of twists, bumps and potholes.
The ever changing health regulations are a frustrating twist for most people who are used to hard and fast unchanging rules, not these frequent changes.
Science changes as scientists learn more from experience and study about unknowns like the coronavirus.
Herd immunity — the point at which enough people are vaccinated to turn the pandemic into a minor issue — will be achieved when 90 per cent of the population is vaccinated.
Canada seems to be stuck in a pothole with around 70 per cent vaccinated while most of the globe’s seven billion people have little or no vaccine available.
Herd immunity can’t be achieved until all of the globe has the jab. At this rate the virus will remain a major concern for years.
Unfortunately COVID-19 isn’t a stationary virus. It keeps mutating into more severe and faster spreading varieties.
The race is on to achieve herd immunity before one of the mutations is so powerful that vaccines have no effect. So far we’ve been lucky enough to have vaccines that work on the new variants.
We still have a large part of the Canadian population who won’t take the vaccine.
Some are afraid of needles; some don’t trust the safety of the science; some are just opposed to vaccines; some don’t believe the virus is a real threat; some see mass vaccination mandates as a threat to their freedoms.
Many of these anti-vaxxers are religious, believing God will take care of them. There is a passage in Romans in the Bible which is interpreted as God helps those who help themselves. These religious folks should reconsider.
Some of these folks believe, perhaps rightly so, that abortion equates to murder. Yet they seem to think it’s fine to go about spewing deadly COVID virus.
The best test of whether to take the vaccine is to ask: What would Jesus do if he were on earth today?
Would he take the vaccine to protect himself and his community from the virus? Or would he rant and rave about loss of freedom and allow himself and his followers to spread this deadly virus?
Personally, I think he would take the vaccine and worry about any possible infringement of freedom later.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
