As a physician who has been involved in the care of patients, including those with COVID, I am frequently asked, “How am I hurting others if I choose not to get vaccinated?”
The answer is this: By choosing not to get vaccinated, you are increasing the chance that the generation of new mutants of the virus may eventually cause all the current vaccines to be ineffective, consequently hurting all of us.
A virus has a given replication error rate of, say, 0.0001%, meaning that when the virus replicates 1,000,000 times, it generates an average of one replication error, and therefore one new mutant.
In a vaccinated person, the moment the virus enters, it is immediately met with a fully prepared and strong host defense system of antibodies which have been produced by the vaccine prior to the arrival of the virus. The virus is subsequently overwhelmed by the large number of the pre-existing antibodies and is destroyed. This is why the chance of a vaccinated person dying from COVID is 10 times SMALLER than that of an unvaccinated person.
Furthermore, when faced with such a well-prepared opposition, the virus simply does not have much time to replicate before it is killed. In such a short period of time, the virus can only achieve a very low level of replication, say 1,000 times. Hence the number of new mutants generated is very small, i.e., 0.0001% x 1,000 = 0.001. So essentially, no mutant is generated in a vaccinated person!
In contrast, in an unvaccinated person, there is actually very little if any existing defense since even if one had a previous infection, natural immunity typically lasts a shorter amount of time than vaccine-induced immunity. The host’s antibodies won’t be developed for days, so the virus takes advantage of the situation and replicates completely unopposed and at a very high rate, destroying a large number of host cells and causing significant damage. That is why an unvaccinated person has a 1,000% HIGHER chance of dying from COVID than does a vaccinated person.
Furthermore, since the virus can grow for days without any opposition, it can achieve an astronomically high number of replications, as many as, say, 100,000,000, and the number of new mutants generated is therefore also very large, i.e., 0.0001%x100,000,000 = 100. New mutants are typically generated in an unvaccinated person, making him/her fertile ground for producing new mutants!
Every time a mutant is generated in a population, it has the chance to evade the defense of all existing vaccines, which means all the COVID vaccines that people have had could become totally ineffective, hence increasing their chance of dying by 1,000%, as well!
In essence, a person who refuses to be vaccinated is like someone driving a car without any experience or driver’s license. The chance of a fatal accident is dramatically higher, not just for that driver but also for all others on the road.
Vaccination is not a political issue, it is a medical one. Let’s overcome polarization and find the common ground that all of us have, i.e., we all want to survive, and we don’t want to hurt others!
Dr. Ming Wang, Harvard & MIT (MD, magna cum laude); PhD (laser physics), is a world-renowned laser eye surgeon, philanthropist, and a co-founder of the non-profit Common Ground Network.
Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration has helped patients from over 40 states in the U.S. and 55 countries, with all sight restoration surgeries performed free-of-charge. Dr. Wang was named the Kiwanis Nashvillian of the Year for his lifelong dedication to help blind orphaned children from around the world.
The film “Sight” is based on Dr. Wang’s autobiography “From Darkness to Sight”, co-starring Greg Kinnear. Dr. Wang can be reached at www.drmingwang.com, www.commonground.network and [email protected]
