Why I got vaccinated

By Dr Leela Klein (TCM)

 

In the last few months many patients and friends have asked me if I got vaccinated, and why. I am not trying to convince anyone to get vaccinated; I am very much pro choice. This is just to tell you my little story.

When the talks about Covid vaccinations first started last year, I thought to myself that I definitely would not get vaccinated. There was not enough research. Who knows what is in them, and it’s been developed way too fast. Then an epidemiologist explained that it got on the market so quickly as it had actually been in development for a while, and that there weren’t the usual red flags when developing a vaccine – e.g. having to apply for funding etc.

I thought to myself, I may get vaccinated, but I won’t be one of the first ones. I want to see what happens first.

Fast forward a few months – after many months of being in lockdown in Melbourne, I was exhausted, defeated and wanted my life back. I listened to my friends overseas who got Covid, and dealt with Chronic fatigue after. I listened to friends who worked in hospitals and saw the impact it had on them. Getting the vaccine seemed the only way to get some normality back, and to be able to see my family and friends in Europe again.

Working as a Chinese medicine doctor and seeing people face to face throughout the pandemic also made me consider the responsibility I have for my patients. I have a strong immune system and cannot remember the last time I got a cold or flu.

So, if I were to contract Covid, I would image that I’d be asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms. And in this case, what would happen if I infected vulnerable patients, my co-workers, and my immuno-compromised friends? Could I live with the possible consequences? Was it enough for me to take immune boosting Chinese medicine herbs, Vitamin C & D and zinc?

My answer was no, and I have been fully vaccinated since April. I did not have any side effects after the vaccine, apart from feeling ever so slightly nauseous twenty minutes after the injection – and a lolly, courtesy from the Austin Hospital, was the remedy for that (both times).

I know that I can still contract Covid, and that I can still pass it on, but I feel better knowing that I am doing everything possibly to avoid especially the latter.

Like I said, this was and is my journey. Yours may be completely different. But maybe if we can understand each other’s choices for taking or not taking the vaccine we will not be quite as divided.

PS If you are getting vaccinated, and are concerned about, or experiencing side effects, then there are Chinese herbal formulas that you could take before and after the vaccine to assist with these.