If you have not yet received your vaccine, do so now | News, Sports, Jobs

Viruses are evil things, very destructive and remarkably resilient.

If they are allowed to spread, they mutate to trick our immune system so they can continue to live and spread.

This is currently happening with the coronavirus. With only about 53% of all Americans, 51% of Michiganders, and about 60% of Michiganders in the Northeast eligible for the vaccine fully vaccinated – a number that has been virtually unchanged for weeks – the coronavirus has plenty of room to continue to. move and change.

The result? About 500 residents of northeastern Michigan are currently actively infected with COVID-19, up from a low of about 25 in mid-July.

Several states across the country are reporting hospitals with capacity or overcapacity, as at the worst times of previous COVID-19 outbreaks.

The longer this lasts, the more likely we are to mutate the virus to the point that our current vaccines no longer work against it, and we are sent straight to the front lines that the virus first drew in February 2020.

We cannot let this happen. For our lives, for our loved ones, for our economy.

The Food and Drug Administration has given full approval to the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine and has declared, under emergency use authorization, that the Moderna vaccine and Johnson and Johnson are also safe. Among those requesting vaccination include the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, local public health agencies and dozens of doctors in northeast Michigan. Your doctor probably wants you to get the vaccine.

Please, if you haven’t already, get your shot. If you have a loved one who resists, urge them to get theirs.

We cannot continue this fight half-armed.