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OPINION

Why I Haven’t Gotten The Shot (Yet?)

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

When it comes to technology, I’m an early adapter. I usually get the newest tech that interests me as soon as it is available, unless the upgrade is so minimal it’s not worth it. (I skipped the iPhone 11, for example, since the only upgrade was minimal and mostly to the camera). So I’m not afraid of new things or averse to change. But when it comes to putting something in my body, I have no desire to be Neil Armstrong on that. As far as the COVID 19 vaccines go, I’m willing to wait a while.

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I should preface this by admitting that I don’t really miss socializing. My wife and I have two kids, ages 3 and 2, so it’s not like we were living the jet-set life anyway. Staying at home is my preferred mode. When I was single, I was out almost every night. But I’m not single, so having friends over is a much more appealing option, and we have exercised that option.

But it’s not just by lack of desire to hit the bars or the fear of some doorknob licking fetish returning that has me waiting to get the COVID 19 vaccine, it’s that it is so new.

Operation Warp Speed was a miracle, and one we desperately needed. It makes me proud to be an American that our country did it and it yielded multiple vaccines that work. And I have no doubt that they work. I just don’t know what else, if anything, they do.

Emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration is different from FDA approval. For the elderly, like my father (80), it makes perfect sense to get the shots. He has lung cancer (currently under control, thankfully) and got the shots. He had no adverse reactions and no hesitation about doing it. If my wife and I decide to have another kid, what would having an mRNA vaccine in our veins do to that baby? Nothing? Probably. But we don’t know yet.

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What will having mRNA vaccines in us do to us in the future? We don’t know. They trigger our immune systems to be ready to destroy the coronavirus should it come in contact with it, which is great, but we don’t really know if that’s all it will do.

Personally, I think it will be fine. But I see no problem in waiting a while. It hasn’t even been a year since it’s been injected into human beings. I don’t think it’s crazy or paranoid to take a little while to see how that works out.

Again, I have faith in the science, I just have no sense of urgency to do it myself. I want more data.

The data we do have is promising, with the efficacy rate of the vaccine being even higher than originally thought. It truly is a miracle.

But I also see the data from infections themselves. The survival rate of COVID 19 is incredibly high for people under 75, and I am under 75.

It’s not like I’m willing to “take my chances” in some kind of reckless way, I wasn’t roaming the streets asking people to cough on me before the pandemic. But I am willing to take my chances with a virus with a 99+ percent survival rate for a while longer rather than take a vaccine based on new medical technology that hasn’t been tested for a year.

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I’m not ungrateful, and I’m not anti-vaccine – I’ve been vaccinated for everything kids get vaccinated for, as have my children. I’m just not interested in being a guinea pig. I’ll wait. For how long, I don’t know. But I’ll know when that time comes.

As for my children, absolutely not. The government is expected to give emergency authorization for kids as young as 12 very soon. Without a preexisting condition, I think people would be crazy to allow it.

The Biden administration and Democrat governors across the country stupidly brought their “equity” racist garbage to vaccine distribution and set back what would have been the right thing to do – target the elderly. That would have been smart to do – protect the population most at risk – but nothing they do can be confused with the smart thing to do.

Now they want everyone to get it to reach something they mocked under the Trump administration: herd immunity. Well, herd immunity doesn’t require everyone. They can reach it without me. I’ll be along when I’m ready, not when Joe Biden and Anthony “I’ve been on every side of every issue” Fauci is ready for me. When will that be? We’ll see. My body, my choice.  

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Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!), host of a daily radio show on WCBM in Maryland, and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.

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