As a registered nurse, it is commonly thought that I would simply accept everything the Center of Disease Control (CDC), Anthony Fauci, and World Health Organization (WHO) dictates.
I have had co-workers, friends, and family raise questions as to why I am not first in line to get the COVID-19 vaccine and why I do not want to protect my family and baby. I find myself among a small minority that questions the information that has been provided. I look to my faith as a Christian with the life experience of a mom, wife, and nurse on whether I am making an informed decision about getting the vaccine.
Currently, the stigma is that if you want to protect yourself against COVID-19 – you must get the vaccine, and if you don’t, you simply don’t care about protecting yourself or those around you. Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum who refuse to get the vaccine because they don’t know what’s in it and just stop there without raising any questions because they don’t want to be labeled a dreaded “anti-vaxxer.” I am not writing to persuade you to one side or the other, but merely to expand on the importance of being informed and why it is more essential now than ever.
ANTI-VAXXER OR INQUISITIVE?
When I was 20, I had my first child. I was naïve and did whatever someone with more education told me to do. No questions asked. I will never forget when my son was getting ready to attend preschool, and I was told he needed four vaccinations to attend. Without a thought, we went to the clinic and four vaccinations was what he received. A few years later, I began to research food additives and the danger of high fructose corn syrup (HCFS) in our children’s food. Frantic, I made a typical mom move and purged all the HCFS from my house and educated myself on what was in the food we ate and how it affected us.
Fast-forward to the day I was working in a clinic and had to administer a vaccine to a child and the mother wanted to know exactly what was in the vaccine, why her child needed it, possible side effects, and she wanted the physician to explain all of this to her.
It caught me completely off guard but also gave me some food for thought.
Children that are vaccinated by the current CDC Vaccination schedule will have had 27-30+ injections before they are six years old.
Here I was frantically purging food with HCFS because of the sugar content that could potentially harm my children, but I never once questioned what was being injected into his little four-year-old body. Not one time did I dare to ask anything about it because IT WAS WHAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO DO. The only literature I was given on his vaccinations was in the form of a small handout stating that it was necessary in order to prevent the disease and a few possible side effects – nobody to answer questions, no one to give any insight as to what is actually IN that particular vaccine, and no one to provide me with any informed consent.
Informed consent:
Agreement or permission accompanied by full notice about the care, treatment, or service that is the subject of the consent. A patient must be
Source: The Joint Commission. 2016. Comprehensive
apprised of the nature, risks, and alternatives of a medical procedure or
treatment before the physician or other health care professional begins any such course. After receiving this information, the patient then either consents to or refuses such a procedure or treatment.
Accreditation Manual glossary.
Has the power and freedom of choice on what we put in our bodies and children’s bodies been stripped from us because we are basically just DOING WHAT WE THINK WE ARE SUPPOSED TO?
Again, I work in healthcare. I have seen COVID-19 take lives, just as I have influenza, pneumonia, and various other diseases.
COVID-19 is real, and I am not here to say otherwise.
My concern is this: are we as a culture going with the grain because we truly believe this is the best thing for us?
Are we informed on exactly what we are putting into our bodies and what could potentially occur as a result? What type of adjuvant is being used in this vaccine? Are we okay with the amount of mercury and aluminum in these vaccinations that are going into our bodies and our children’s bodies? Do we know what amount of these metals is safe to have injected? Are these materials crossing the blood-brain barrier? What are the long-term effects of heavy metals on the body? If there are more strains and mutations coming out – why is it important to get vaccinated against a strain that my body has already built-up antibodies to when I had the disease? If polio was eradicated, then what is vaccine-derived polio? And if you are inoculated to it, then why the malediction upon people that are not?
Again, not trying to discredit vaccines or persuade you one way or the other – but why are these questions so wrong to ask? Why are people labeled anti-vaxxer if they just want to know more and why are healthcare workers such as myself viewed poorly because we ask those questions instead of just jumping in line?
If you have not heard of the Tuskegee Study, a 40-year human experimentation study conducted by the CDC and the US Public Health Service, I implore you to take a minute to inform yourself.
Have we been made to believe that our bodies are our own and that we can only be protected by what our government provides? As a Christian nurse who advocates for the humanity and my faith, is that what God wants us to believe? Does He want us to live in fear and uncertainty to the point that we are taking direction from someone that wants us to believe what they say, just because they said it?
I struggle with this because people are quick to get the vaccine because another human with a degree on their wall says to – no questions asked.
UNCOMFORTABLE? GOOD.
The CDC has partnered with social media platforms to remove any content that raises any kind of question or opposition to the disease and/or vaccine, as well as really any holistic health care approach. Would that be defined as oppression?
If we are concerned as a nation about a communicable disease infiltrating our culture and our lives and believe that vaccination against it is the best intervention, why are we limiting any opposition or questions raised to it? One of the primary tenets of science is universal skepticism. Sincere questioning should be encouraged.
Make your choices based on information that is not limited, edited, or just superficial and pleasant to hear. Make your choice based on a solid foundation of facts and be knowledgeable in those facts. Again, I am not here to tell you to NOT get the vaccine. I am just asking you to be informed before making a choice. Ask the right questions and if you are a Christian pray for discernment about the information coming your way – that it may be true and sound.
Stay healthy and stay informed!
– Melissa Hollingshad, RN, BSN
You must log in to post a comment.