The Last, Best Shot

This past week, The Boston Globe published a series of articles focusing on vaccinations in an effort to urge the hesitant to a point of comfort with getting the shot. The Express News Group participated in “The Last, Best Shot” by sharing those articles online; recently, our organization also hosted a separate Express Sessions virtual event with a similar goal, bringing together community leaders and health experts in an effort aimed at the “vaccine hesitant,” offering facts and answers.

It’s important to note that there is no brush broad enough to paint all of the people who remain unvaccinated. It’s not helpful to think of them all as “anti-vaxxers,” and it’s not accurate. Many people have fears rooted in either misinformation or in their individual health conditions. Some worry that even a day of vaccine-related side effects could cost them a much needed paycheck, or a job. Some see echoes of past health drives that betrayed the trust of ethnic minority communities. Some were waiting for full approval by the Food and Drug Administration — which came Monday, removing another obstacle. And some simply haven’t been able to get comfortable enough with the idea, for whatever personal reasons.

It’s equally important to note: The vaccine is remarkably safe, remarkably effective and easy (and free) to get. And it is essential to keeping individuals safe from serious complications from COVID-19, which is more contagious than ever with the virulent delta strain being the most common variant spreading through the unvaccinated community. There is no reasonable argument against it.

If you are unvaccinated, you are at risk. Vaccines aren’t guaranteed to stop you from getting the virus — breakthough cases are extremely rare but not impossible, and some vaccinated people might be able to spread the illness without realizing they have it. But vaccinated people overwhelmingly avoid the most serious complications, and almost all have stayed out of the hospital.

Meanwhile, unvaccinated people are alarmingly at risk from the delta variant, which is much more likely to spread if a person comes into contact with someone carrying it. That person will infect an average of more than five people, according to some estimates — most likely including loved ones — and might end up on a ventilator. People are dying every day from COVID-19 in America, and almost all were not vaccinated.

With school about to open — masks, by the way, are absolutely essential to restricting the spread of the virus in a community, even as vaccines provide protection for individuals, and should be mandated by the new governor, Kathy Hochul, as she has promised — this fall is a crucial moment in the pandemic. Now that the Pfizer vaccine has full FDA approval, it should be mandated for all educators and students 12 and up who would be in classrooms.

We can almost see a return to normal, which we glimpsed for a brief time before the virus flared up again. Getting vaccinated is good for you, as an individual, and it’s the best thing for your community.

In fact, it’s our last, best shot to get back to normal. Get it, please.