How am I hurting others if I choose not to get vaccinated?

Dr. Ming Wang

by Dr. Ming Wang, Jan. 4, 2022 - 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 chances of the generation of new mutants of the virus that may eventually make all of the current vaccines ineffective, hurting us all. 

A virus has a given error rate of replication 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 prepared and strong 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 of, 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 has a previous infection natural immunity typically lasts a shorter period of time than a vaccine-caused one). 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 damages. 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 thus achieve an astronomically high number of replications of as many as, say, 100,000,000, the number of new mutants generated is thus very large also, i.e., 0.0001%x100,000,000 = 100. So new mutants are typically generated in an unvaccinated person. An unvaccinated person is therefore a 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 vaccines that vaccinated persons have had all could become totally ineffective. 

My main point is this: Those who refuse to get vaccinated are essentially helping the production of new mutants that could potentially wipe out all of the protection vaccinated persons have from existing vaccines, 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 license to drive. The chance of a fatal accident is dramatically higher, not just for that driver but for all others on the road as well. 

Vaccination is not a political issue, it is a medical one. Let’s overcome the polarization and find the common ground that we all do 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. Dr. Wang can be reached at www.drmingwang.com, www.commonground.network and drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com.

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