On My Way to Get the Corona Vaccine…
Over 1.5 million Israelis have gotten the Corona vaccine so far, a sixth of the population, #1 in the world.
And I’m personally eager to join that growing number, but I’m too young and too healthy (b”H!) to be eligible.
So last night I decided to try my luck, and took a bus to the conference center which is my health fund’s vaccination center at close to the official closing time, 10 PM, to see if I could receive one of the left-over vaccines for people without appointments..
I got on the bus at 9:03 PM and on the way I did some of the things I do when I really want something to happen.I visualized how the person in charge of the vaccinations would say, “You want a vaccine? I’m so happy you came! We’ve got tons left!” And then I told Hashem why it’s to His benefit to let me get the vaccination, “If I stay healthy and alive I can take care of my kids who need me, etc, etc.”
But when I got to the conference center at 9:30, there was already a line of at least a 100 people who had the same plan as me.
It took me a few minutes to reach the end of the line, and when I finally did, I noticed 2 signs on the wall–one with the name of my health fund with an arrow pointing to a closed, lights-off hall, and another arrow with the name of a different health fund pointing to the entrance those 100+ people were waiting to enter.
It turned out that there had been an error on my health fund’s website, they’d closed at 6:30 not 10.
On the way back the bus, I was a little disappointed, but not very. Because I remembered the Giant Scissors…
Let my explain.
Last week Rabbi Fischel Schachter mentioned that one can experience paradise in This World by using the Giant Scissors, to cut between my human effort and the Divine result, which is entirely in Hashem’s hands.
I can invite my prickly teenager out for ice cream, but only Hashem can heal our relationship.
I can wear a mask, social distance, and wash my hands with soap, but only Hashem can keep me healthy.
And I can schlep to the other end of the city to get a vaccination, but it’s in Hashem’s hands whether I get that vaccination or not.
And as long as I have those Giant Scissors in hand, so I’m able to feel pleased about my sincere efforts at the same time that I can accept Hashem’s decisions, I can be happy (snip!) no matter what.
Thank you for this chizzuk. We need to put our best foot forward, but only Hashem will decide what the outcome will be.
Maybe Hashem was saving you from the vaccine*….
*vaccine is a misnomer, and frankly misleading. Vaccines take YEARS to develop. Everyone must do their own research. I realize it’s complicated (I’m not a doctor or even a nurse (too squeamish!!!! But I am an attorney who spent 15+ years suing doctors for medical malpractice- so I can understand that most laypeople will have a difficult time reading through the literature)) and most of all time consuming. Hashem should help and give us light and truth.
I’m with you, Monica
Monica, you’re right. I too am of the “laypeople” variety- no medical background. Which is why I trust the vast majority of those in the medical world who advise getting the vaccine.
A vaccine for a world pandemic that has been responsible for the deaths of
MILLIONS of people worldwide doesn’t take years to develop:
-Technological background required for the vaccine existed
-Pre-clinical stage of vaccinations takes months- as it did in this case
– Safety stage 1 also takes months- as it did in this case
– Funding for Stages 2 & 3 which would usually take months or years to secure has been unlimited…millions dying, life screeching to a halt may have something to do with that…
– Stages 2 and 3 of vaccine development (testing, confirmation of findings, usefulness, safety through testing) took months due to the incredible speed at which the pandemic spread and due to no problem in finding volunteers
– Final approval usually takes about half a year after stage 3 – as it did in this case
-Mass production – in this case, started during stage 3, before final approval but did not mean that final approval was not achieved
– Vaccination of population – usually after mass production – in this case, emergency approval given 110 days after final results of stage three were acquired.
And there we have it- how it is utterly feasible to produce a vaccination in the time that the Covid-19 was produced.
It makes me very angry to hear and see the incredibly misleading material out there that makes laypeople fearful of this vaccination.
In my eyes, it is very wrong to be dissuading people from vaccinating. We’ve been praying for salvation from this pandemic for almost a year now. Hashem gave us (the human race) the intelligence to develop a vaccination. Thank you, Hashem, for your kindness.
“It is a Mitzva to listen to the doctors- ורפוא יירפא – מכאן שניתנה רשות לרופא לרפאות (ברכות ס,א…
According to Jewish law, we go according to the majority in cases like those, whereby the VAST MAJORITY of doctors advise getting the vaccination.
אחרי רבים להטות (שמות כג:ב) We learn from this that we go after the majority, in all kinds of situations…”
(Rav Eliezer Melamed, Rosh Yeshiva and author of Pninei Halacha).
I refuse, for the above reasons, to even view the countless clips out there from “alternative Rabbis”, Doctors, and, yes, also people who are completely and utterly BONKERS (Gog U’Magog, Bill Gates chips, deep state theory people I’m looking at you) all wanting to dissuade us from vaccinating.
And this, dear friends, is why I will be going, nay running, to grow a tail er I mean get vaccinated.
Thank you for this. It is so wrong and unfair to give people false information and rob them of the real choice whether to take the vaccine or not. If you get scared unnecessarily you could put yourself in danger by not having it.
I just think it’s very confusing for people. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories at all. But there was new technology used for this particular vaccine that wasn’t used before. How does one know if there could be long term effects from the vaccine?
(I do vaccinate my kids and I’m not anti vax, I just think people have concerns about possible long term effects)
I hear you Sorah.
Re the new technology; again, I choose to trust those in the field. I refuse to live in the dark place of mistrust. Another point that Rav Melamed, and others, raised is the slippery slope of mistrust. In the medical community…those in power…etc, etc. It turns people into very fearful, never trusting, etc. I am not naive, just believe in the human race and those who understand the medical and technical field…
If they say that the pros outweigh the possible cons. So I go, with a prayer on my lips, to vaccinate.
we asked my dad, who’s a retired physician and medical researcher from Georgetown University medical school. He researched the data and said we should vaccinate, so we are. Though it’s still nervewracking, truth is I was a little relieved I couldn’t get the vaccine…
JewishMom, I’m glad to hear that – like I said, educated choices!
Love the last two comments.
I can’t help but comment, in the belief that people should make educated choices and in view of the fact that the number of people dying not long after being vaccinated is growing and yet the official stance is that there isn’t any connection. Honestly I would be less suspicious if they admitted a connection and yet said the risk nonetheless is worth it.
I don’t know if you’re aware that the government admitted acquiring large quantities of the vaccine based on the promise of using Israel as a giant testing ground for this immunization. This project amounts to a giant research project with Israel as the laboratory and its adult citizens being the guinea pigs.
it’s accepted practice to participate in such test trials but just be aware that this is what you’re doing by volunteering for the vaccine.
I refuse to get the vaccine until I see someone who took both doses get pregnant and give birth to a healthy baby.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/vaccinate-so-that-you-can-be-fruitful-and-multiply/
In response to Chana above. I literally just read this and thought you might find it interesting..
Thank you, Rivkah. I still don’t trust it. I don’t want to be a guinea pig for a rushed vaccine, still in experimental stages, for which multiple woman have gone into early labor after receiving. No one yet has had the vaccine and then successfully given birth 9 months later. It’s too early. Thanks but no thanks.
And not for a disease which has a 99.9% survival rate.