Guest Article: Vax Is The Best Way to Protect Self, Family

Drew Dostal: "Take COVID-19 seriously"

Letter to the community from Drew Dostal, President of Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial, Ludington Hospital and the Integrated Care Campus-North Muskegon.
 
 Spectrum Health and Hart High School in neighboring Oceana County will jointly be offering a vaccination clinic on Saturday, May 1 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Hart High School, located at 300 Johnson Street in Hart. All those 16 and older are welcome and encouraged to register, as we work together to ensure your health, the health and safety of your families and make it safe for you to work and be around others.
 
On behalf of Spectrum Health, I’d like to encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated to schedule their appointment so we can begin to put this highly contagious outbreak behind us and more quickly get back to normal life, as much as possible. Our expert nurses will be administering 400 vaccine doses at this clinic. Our registration staff will very efficiently review your information to confirm your birthdate. Our volunteers are ready to welcome you. Our entire team will be available to help make this a fast, easy process.
 
To schedule your appointment time, go to the vaccine registration website (https://www.spectrumhealth.org/covid19/covid-19-vaccine) and click on “Schedule Your Vaccination.” Answer the questions, and you will then be taken to a page showing the Spectrum Health vaccination clinic locations where you can select an appointment at the location of your choice. Or, you may call 833.755.0696 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. for help getting an appointment. Make sure to specify the Hart High School location.
 
There is no out-of-pocket cost to you for the vaccine. If you have insurance, you will be asked to show your insurance card so that we can recoup some cost for the administration of the vaccine. If you do not have insurance, you will still be able to get your vaccine.
 
There have been several myths around the COVID-19 vaccine that we would like to address. Here are some facts:

1. The vaccine does not and cannot cause COVID-19. The vaccine contains no live virus, so you cannot get COVID-19 from being vaccinated. The vaccine will protect you and your family’s health by providing immunity and will significantly lower your chance of being hospitalized and dying because of COVID-19.
2. The vaccine was made and approved based on decades of science and evidence-based facts.  The COVID-19 vaccine was approved for emergency use due to our pandemic status in the US with public health at risk. The approval process was accelerated out of necessity, but the vaccine development and testing were evidence-based using processes that have proven safe and effective in eradicating dozens of contagious diseases.
3. Vaccination has nothing to do with politics. COVID-19 is a virus. Everyone is at risk, although we know that mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing can help minimize those risks. Just as we know from public-health based science that cooking meat to at least 165 degrees protects against illness from food poisoning, we know that the best way to protect yourself and your family from COVID-19 is through vaccination.
4. If I’m young and healthy, I’m not at risk even if I get COVID-19. Right now, variants of the virus are infecting younger, healthy people. Nearly all of our currently hospitalized patients are unvaccinated. Their ages range from 20s to late 80s. Although people with underlying health problems are more at risk of hospitalization and death, people who are young and healthy are also being hospitalized and, tragically, some have died.
5. This is all being blown way out of proportion. COVID-19 is here in our communities. Our hospital has record numbers of COVID-19 patients. It is unpredictable and dangerous and what works to treat one person may not work for the patient in the next room. Our clinical teams are exhausted but continuing to work hard for every single patient.

 
We urge you to take COVID-19 seriously. Sign up to get a vaccine and encourage those you know and love to do so also. In the meantime, mask up, stay at least six feet apart and wash your hands frequently.

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