Jo Raphael: get boosted to help protect others

Fully vaccinated people can get the booster shot three months after their second shot. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

I got boosted the other day.

Like the two times before, all I felt was a sharp pinch, I sat quietly for 15 minutes and then I was on my way. No big deal.

The Big Boost campaign took place over the weekend. Fully vaccinated people can get the booster shot three months after their second shot.

It's important to get boosted because, according to the Ministry of Health, protection against infection with either Delta or Omicron decreases over time.

A booster dose at three months after the end of the first course will improve protection against Omicron, particularly for protection against severe disease, such as hospitalisation.

Omicron is taking root in our country, and just like using a brolly in a cyclone, it can feel like physical efforts to keep it out are pointless.

However, one thing we can use against this particular onslaught is vaccination. Ninety-five per cent of the rest of the country agrees with me.

Communities all over the country have worked hard to achieve this.

I made the initial decision to get vaccinated against Covid-19 because of selfish reasons: I didn't want to get sick and die on a ventilator.

Almost six million people worldwide have so far suffered that fate.

I wanted to go out to eat and drink and know the people around me had done their bit to keep me and others safe.

But I mainly did it because my eight-year-old nephew is enduring round after brutal round of chemotherapy, which has ultimately wiped his immunities.

This means all his childhood vaccinations have been erased - he is vulnerable to just about everything.

To me and my family, that is a scary thought.

I knew it was important to get vaccinated so that he and others like him are protected.

I have made no secret of the fact that I do not understand the reasoning behind people's decisions to not get vaccinated on the grounds that mandates were impeding personal freedoms - what about my nephew's freedom to be protected against Covid while he's battling cancer?

Vaccine hesitancy and the need to know more information I can understand - this is simple to rectify by speaking to someone who can explain the science and logic behind the importance of being vaccinated.

Sadly, some are so far down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and disinformation that I may be wasting my breath, just like that same group are wasting their breath trying to convince me I'm wrong.

While I fervently wish it doesn't happen, those people will need every breath they can draw if they contract Covid-19.