Just get vaccinated

As the dust settles on the violence and looting that took place last week, the community has bonded in raising funds and gathering essential goods for those sorely affected by the chaos. These include our community in KwaZulu-Natal.

I was astonished to see people, many of whom were fasting on Tisha B’Av, making their way into townships to help clean up over the weekend. The kindness and generosity of our community has, again, come to the fore.

Literally millions of rand has been raised in days to help people, mostly in KwaZulu-Natal. People who have barely left their homes in months made their way to help pack boxes and sort through essentials that were destined for Durban.

It was amazing how the horror of the pandemic took a back seat to the crazed looting, burning, and madness that was believed to have been caused by Zuma’s cronies, now known as the “dirty dozen”.

For a week, our focus shifted to another devastating situation in our country.

But as the damage is being weighed up and the true toll on the economic and political playing field is tallied, the rest of us return to the reality of the pandemic and that level 4 lockdown is still with us. The number of people with COVID-19 is still extremely high, but it’s dropping. This is a huge relief.

There is undoubtedly hope in the air, and that hope comes in the form of an injection, a jab, a shot, or a vaccination – call it what you will.

Never before have I witnessed people crying with joy when they receive a vaccination. And many are willing to wait quietly, in their masks and keeping a social distance, for hours on end just to get that small vial of muti vaccinated into their arm.

I know I was quite emotional when I had my first jab. It felt like one step towards freedom. One step towards being able to live a life without so many restrictions. As I was vaccinated, I pictured myself surrounded by my loved ones at a dinner table.

Isn’t it amazing how regular events that we took for granted have become something we long for?

While most people I know just want to be vaccinated for all the same reasons I do, I don’t understand why there are others who seem to look for excuses not to. Now, normally (if there is such a thing), I believe in letting people follow their own path. If they don’t agree with my views, so be it. They don’t have to.

However, the only way we are going to get to population or mass immunity is if more than 65% of the population is vaccinated. So, it isn’t as simple as looking the other way.

To get to the point where we can’t carry coronavirus and make someone else sick, many more of us need to have one of the vaccines on offer in South Africa. At this stage, we are vaccinating about 200 000 people a day. So far, we have given 5.5 million individual doses. The government’s aim is to vaccinate 300 000 a day.

According to the most recent research done by experts at the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch, nearly one in four are still hesitant to be vaccinated. And one in 15 are strongly opposed to it. Their reasons vary from not trusting that the vaccines have been tested for long enough to vaccinations being a global plot. I have heard and read the most ridiculous reasons for not getting vaccinated. The point is, those people who are dying and very ill in hospital are generally not vaccinated. Isn’t that enough of a reason to get the vaccine?

The reality is that as a nation, we can avoid a fourth wave. The sooner we’re all vaccinated, the sooner we can resume a semblance of normality.

Can you picture it: going to the cinema, dinner in a cosy restaurant, parties where we dance with each other.

Imagine going to a concert in the park with people all around us, dancing, smiling, and laughing. It seems almost like a dream.

The idea of going to shul and sitting next to a friend and enjoying a brocha afterwards seems like a fond memory.

Just being able to walk down the street and smile at people and see them smiling back at you would be so pleasurable. And South Africa is one of the few countries in which strangers smiling and greeting each other happens all the time.

The truth is, this isn’t that far off if we all just get vaccinated. Everyone from the age of 35 and older can get their jabs now.

In the next few weeks, the SA Jewish Report is going to focus on trying to dispel myths and answer any questions, worries, or concerns about vaccines so that we are all armed with all the facts.

This Sunday, if you are registered on the Electronic Vaccination Data System, you can go along to The Base Shul in Glenhazel where they are vaccinating. Anyone is welcome as long as he or she has their identity document and is registered. You can be on a medical aid, but you don’t have to be. You certainly don’t have to be Jewish.

Our responsibility isn’t just to get ourselves and those in our family above 35 vaccinated, it extends to those in our circle or those we know. What if the security guard at your office block has had difficulty registering and/or getting somewhere that he could be vaccinated? Don’t let him wait, help him to get there.

The same goes for your domestic workers, gardeners, other staff, or even that woman you know down the road. Do a mitzvah, help someone or a number of people to get vaccinated.

Make it your commitment to get yourself vaccinated, and everyone you know who wants to be protected against this killer coronavirus.

As a community, let’s do the right thing. We have seen too much death and illness, it’s time to bring it to an end.

And it’s not about which drug will work better and will there be a hospital bed if you get very ill with COVID-19. It’s all about doing everything you can to prevent you, me, and everyone else from getting this virus.

Let’s do it!

Shabbat Shalom!