My cousin Attar Singh @attar_singh is a medical student and has tells me that he has been hearing very mixed information from the mouths of others about the COVID vaccine, so he set about doing a review of the current literature and kindly shared it with me. With his consent, I have shared his words (my first guest writer 🙂 ) on my page to spread the message. The following piece contai ns tons of articles and references so you can read more at your leisure. Getting vaccinated saves lives!

“Firstly this isn’t to scare anyone. It’s to make sure people have the right information and aren’t just listening to what they read on social media or what someone sends them on WhatsApp. Also feel free to share with any friends or colleagues if you think it might help.
 
I need to address the elephant in the room which is that those that I’ve encountered who are not sure about taking the vaccine are of BAME background. So, some numbers as context. The rate of death in Black African males is 3.8x higher and in Black African females is 2.9x higher than white ethnic population. Also, South Asians in England have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes which are associated with increased COVID-19 mortality. bottom line is that those with greater risk should be more inclined to have the vaccine.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/updatingethniccontrastsindeathsinvolvingthecoronaviruscovid19englandandwales/deathsoccurring2marchto28july2020

Let’s not just focus on the deaths. Studies have shown that COVID-19 can lead to long-term health implications. One study indicated that of those with COVID-19, 46% had shown signs of heart damage (no pre-existing heart disease) with 1 in 8 showing severe dysfunction. Based on past SARS outbreaks, studies have shown that 38% of patients can be left with long term lung damage 15 years after the initial infection. This list can go on and on, including changes in kidney function, neurological function and so much more. These are just from the studies so far, with much more information still coming out as we are still learning about the virus and its consequences.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/news-from-the-bhf/news-archive/2020/july/heart-scans-abnormal-in-covid-19

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00039-8/fulltext

Next, the vaccine is not just for your protection but for those around you too. Whether it is your siblings, parents, friends or colleagues. The mass vaccination programme won’t be effective if not everyone gets it. We can look at other vaccines which have shown to eradicate certain diseases like smallpox in the past. We can look at the MMR vaccine, where in 1998, a paper which has since been disproven led to over 100,000 children not being vaccinated in 2004 alone. This led to over 2000 cases of measles being recorded in 2012 but this example shows how just because of one scientifically inaccurate paper there can be long term consequences for the general population. This is why it is so important to do your own research and don’t rely on social media to come to conclusions. Have a look online at the scientific papers which have been published and are backed up with evidence.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071313/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22085678

Now for the main event. The safety of the vaccine. It’s one that everyone has been talking about and spreading rumours about what’s in the vaccine. I want to reassure people that the vaccine is safe and effective. No vaccine or medication is 100% effective and no vaccine is approved without rigorous safety monitoring. Common side effects include headaches, pain at the injection site and fatigue. These are all common with any vaccine. It’s not new to this vaccine. For example we all take paracetamol or cough medicine regularly but do we go into this much detail about the side effects. No because we look at the common side effects. So why are we acting different for this. We all have meningitis, polio, tetanus vaccines and so many more when we’re younger. So again why are we making an exception here.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2034577

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/presentation/presentation-safety-monitoring-covid-19-vaccines-peter-arlett_en.pdf

https://english.cbg-meb.nl/latest/news/2020/07/09/safety-of-paracetamol-is-not-compromised

Thank you for those who have read this. I want to make it clear, if it isn’t already, when I’m offered the vaccine I will be gladly signing up straight away. Sorry if I have offended anyone. Please share this with friends and family. At the end of the day this was to help educate others and keep those around us safe. This wasn’t to scare anyone but to be realistic. I may have made some mistakes and I apologise for any. But if anyone has any questions don’t hesitate to drop me a message. Also I have attached some of the resources I used and some which I have found quite helpful. Stay safe and take care.

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/overview/public-health-threats/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/treatments-vaccines/covid-19-vaccines-key-facts

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/2019-ncov-factsheet.pdf

https://www.who.int/westernpacific/emergencies/covid-19/information/severity

https://www.avert.org/coronavirus/covid-19-myths-and-facts “

What an absolute superstar for putting all this together! Thank you Attar Singh!

Hope you have found it useful peeps. It’s been a tough few weeks with more and more people in my social network becoming affected. Keep safe.

Love, hope and warm wishes,

Aman