Community has moral imperative to get vaccinated

Dear Editor:
Hamilton County, one of Nebraska’s most desirable places to live, boasts many laurels, but our COVID-19 vaccination rate is not among them. This is troubling in light of the fact that unvaccinated folks are 20 times more likely to die from COVID.
The hospital where I am a medical student — the University of Nebraska Medical Center — was so overwhelmed with COVID patients last month that it activated its crisis care plan for the first time in history. Yet we know that this could have been avoided, as vaccination reduces the risk of severe illness and hospitalization by 16-fold.
Only 50 percent of Hamilton County has received one or more doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, lagging behind our state (69 percent) and nation (81 percent). This leaves our community vulnerable, as 86 percent of COVID deaths in Nebraska this year have been among individuals who are not fully vaccinated.
Boosting our vaccination rate is our ticket out of the pandemic. This will require community-based interventions spearheaded by county health, church, and school leaders to dispel misinformation and make vaccination convenient.
The Aurora Community Health Clinic, local churches, and Aurora, Giltner, and Hampton public schools should collaborate to disseminate accurate COVID-19 vaccine information, encourage people to get vaccinated and boosted, and co-host vaccination clinics. Each could take turns leading mobile vaccination clinics with volunteers. Persuading Hamilton County residents to show up for a vaccine will require not only local radio, television, and online platforms, but also personal conversations in our grocery stores, gas stations, and churches.
Why vaccinate? Our community understands the toll the pandemic has waged on the economy. Vaccination is our only way out of this; otherwise, we give the virus generous time to mutate into a new variant. President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed was hugely successful, bringing us a safe, effective vaccine in record time. In order to get our economy back on track — without losing more workforce productivity to pandemic burnout, unvaccinated workers contracting and spreading the virus, and the debilitating fatigue of “long COVID” — our county vaccination rates must catch up.
From a faith-based perspective, we have a moral and Christian duty to look after our neighbors. This community has always taken care of each other, organizing benefits for families struck by cancer or helping our farmers with harvest. COVID-19 should be no different. The Bible tells us: You and I are not our own. We belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 3:23). By getting vaccinated, we can protect community members from untimely and unnecessary death.
As Christians, we value life highly. We should show that we also value the lives of those at highest risk of COVID-19 complications, such as older folks or those with preexisting conditions, by getting vaccinated. Church leaders have an important role to play in correcting misinformation and encouraging vaccination among their congregations.
To be sure, there is concern over protecting personal freedoms. But how far are we willing to defend individualism when the choice to remain unvaccinated brings avoidable harm and death to others in our community? As a student-physician, I have cared for unvaccinated COVID-19 patients. Watching them deteriorate and die is heartbreaking — especially knowing that vaccination could have significantly reduced their risk of hospitalization and dying. We all have a personal responsibility to do the right thing, whether mandated or not.
Others are worried that we do not know the long-term effects of the vaccine, which is understandable. Based on all the available scientific literature, however, we can objectively conclude that the risks of remaining unvaccinated (e.g., irreversible damage to lungs and other vital organs, hospitalization, mortality) strongly outweigh any potential risks associated with opting for the vaccine.
All of us would prefer to be done with this pandemic, but we are not out of the woods yet. Until our community pulls together to improve our COVID-19 vaccination rates, there will be more unnecessary suffering. The good people of Hamilton County have always taken care of each other. Getting a vaccine that could save your neighbor’s life is no different.
Natasha Hongsermeier-Graves