Vaccination in the US

Why you should get vaccinated asap

Sila Team,

I spoke to my sister in India over the weekend. As you’ve probably seen, there is a huge Covid wave in India at the moment. The numbers and the human stories behind them are truly horrific. My 80-yr-old mother lives with my sister and my brother-in-law. They all got the first dose of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine (called Covishield in India), and are waiting for the second dose. But with the reports of “escape mutants” and the “India variant”, I was quite worried about them.

My sister told me two stories:

• Her friend’s 96-yr-old grandfather tested positive for Covid. He got the first dose of Covishield but started showing symptoms of Covid a couple of days before his second vaccine dose was due. His family was very worried about him, but even 10 days after the onset of symptoms he had avoided being admitted to the hospital. He had no fever and his symptoms were really no worse than a bad cold. If not for his age, they probably wouldn’t have worried about it.
• A couple, aged 35 and 39 respectively, who are her colleagues, were both ineligible for vaccination. They both caught Covid and are in the hospital on oxygen. No idea yet what will happen to them.

Of course, these are only anecdotes, but the data shows that out of 87 million fully vaccinated people in the US, there were only 5079 symptomatic breakthroughs (0.005%), only 0.0003% hospitalizations related to COVID-19, and only 0.00009% deaths related to COVID. The vaccines we have developed to fight Covid-19 are marvels of modern science. And living in the US means that since April 19, all of us are eligible to be vaccinated. We have in-person offsites, meetings, and even a new office in the works this summer. As I get to meet all of you in person, sometimes for the first time, I’d love to know that every one of you is protected and safe for your own sake and for the sake of those around you. Each one of you is important, both to us here at Sila and to those at home who love you. So, please, get vaccinated if you can.

Sincerely

Shamir Karkal