Facts matter, but only when enough people accept and believe them. Reader comments to last week’s editorial in this space offered much disheartening proof to this. Our “disturbing picture” satire that proffered that the 2020 Presidential Election was fraudulent and Biden’s victory was illegitimate was celebrated by some as bold fact telling, mistaking mockery for concession.
No.
Biden’s 306 – 232 electoral vote victory was ratified by all 50 states’ electoral college electors on Dec. 14, 2020 and officially counted by the full membership of the 117th U.S. Congress on Jan. 7, 2021. Prior to those dates, all 63 court challenges to the election process were dismissed or withdrawn. Joe Biden took the official oath of office as the United States President at noon on Jan. 20, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol, sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Establishing wide acceptance of facts on other topics, unlike with partisan political arguments, can lead to matters of life and death. Take, for instance, our current consternation over all the myths versus facts of viruses, vaccines and vaccinations. Accepting myths and avoiding being vaccinated has led to people’s deaths. We know this because of deathbed confessions and the sorrowful pleas from family survivors.
Let’s share some basic facts about the COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson represent major advancements in science and medicine. These are vaccines like none before them. They do not contain “live” DNA or pieces of the COVID-19 virus. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were created using messenger RNA (mRNA.) Strands of mRNA act like biological sets of instructions that “teach” our immune systems how to fight off the COVID-19 virus. The vaccine does not penetrate individual cells, like previous “live” vaccines used to fight other virus do. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is slightly different and uses genetically modified proteins that create antibodies to fight the COVID-19 virus. None of the vaccines contain any foreign substances, no implants, no microchips and no tracking devices.
Tests by the vaccine laboratories, the Federal Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been extremely comprehensive, transparent and ongoing. The FDA and CDC continue to monitor all vaccination activity and results. All three vaccines have been recorded as highly effective with very rare side effects. They have been proven in millions of individual cases to prevent serious disease, hospitalization and death.
To date, some 70% of Sonoma County’s residents over age 12 have been fully vaccinated. That’s a total of 623,221 vaccinations administered. But 22% of our population — over 100,000 people — remains unprotected from the highly infectious and dangerous coronavirus that is now spiking once again all across America. After just four COVID-19 deaths in May and June in Sonoma County, there were 10 new deaths in July.
Sentiments of anti-vaccinations are very personal matters. Cautious parents, homeopathic patients and mistrust of science have thwarted a community’s goal to achieve “herd immunity” and purging of measles, chicken pox, mumps, influenza and other virus-caused diseases. Among all these diseases, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is the most contagious and life-threatening. That is not a myth.
But now we have the “politicization” of the COVID-19 vaccines that is adding not only mistrust of science, but mistrust of government as well. The historically rapid COVID-19 vaccinations developed under the Trump Administration’s Warp Speed laboratory mobilization has led some people to think testing steps were skipped and lab results were rushed. The truth is the opposite, according to monitoring completed by independent observers such as scientists at Johns Hopkins University and many others.
The Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines represent both decades of vaccination research and development and modern-day miracles as well.
Most miracles are difficult to believe but these vaccination miracles come with lots of supporting facts. Please share these facts and get your shots.
