1) So I want to tell a quick personal health story. It has the moral. The moral is please please please please please get your Covid shot.
2) I am vaccinated, but I've been sick the last several days. For a while, the docs thought it might be Covid.
The reason why they thought this is that I have an autoimmune disorder that is controlled with immunosuppressive drugs. The vaccine might not have fully "taken" in me.
3) The good news is that it's not Covid. We now think it's a bacteria infection. I'm on antibiotics now. I'm going to be fine.
My symptoms were also very mild, as far as Covid goes, so I never thought I was going to die or something. But here's the thing.
4) I can't tell you how soul crushing it is to contemplate the possibility that you may never achieve Covid immunity — that you will literally spend the rest of your life knowing that every time you travel, or step into a restaurant, or go to a party, that you could get it.
5) If a potent mRNA vaccine hadn't been enough to bolster my immune system against Covid, then I'd have no guarantee that the vaccine PLUS having a previous infection would protect me either.
6) My wife and I spent the last two days having some very dark conversations about how maybe it won't be safe for us to travel. We never thought this would kill me. But we did think that I might have to deal with a new Covid infection every 4 months or so.
7) Now ask yourself if you know anyone who might have a compromised immune system — a mother or a husband. A friend or a colleague. A beloved teacher.
8) There are people throughout this country quietly fearing that they could have to spend the rest of their lives in a somewhat milder version of 2020 — weighing every outing against the risk of getting sick. Imagine fearing that this was your forever state.
9) The only thing that can protect those people is herd immunity. They need enough people around them to be vaccinated that they can live their lives in safety.
10) Anyways. I had a scare. It's over now. Looks like my vaccine took.
Please get vaccinated. Other people aren't so lucky.
Originally tweeted by Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) on April 27, 2021.