Health Service Providers (HSPs) include doctors, nurses, aides, orderlies, medical technicians and anyone working to restore or maintain wellbeing. We share a sacred obligation to put the interests of those for whom we care foremost. For millennia healers, philosophers, and religious leaders have codified this expectation to always provide the “best” for patients, placing their welfare over personal beliefs and preferences.
Like many others, we find the accumulated scientific data convincing — Covid vaccination is generally safe and highly effective, but not perfect. It can significantly diminish infections, reduce the likelihood of serious disease and virtually eliminate the chance of Covid mortality. Vaccination is appropriate for nearly everyone because it provides profound individual, societal, and public health benefits. However, although widely accepted, some are reluctant to be immunized (including some HSPs). The reasons for this reluctance are many and based on personal beliefs and preferences. Some are skeptical about vaccine efficacy as “breakthrough” infections can occur in the immunized. Such infections are mostly short and usually without serious consequences (unlike those in the nonimmunized). Others have a different risk tolerance and worry about unrecognized toxicity. Despite the vast evidence of safety from thousands of clinical trial subjects and millions of patients, they fear that new side effects might emerge over time. This is possible with any treatment. Still others do not trust the scientific establishment, industry or government.
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