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Our Decision About the Coronavirus Vaccine
Debra Redalia
A reader wrote to me asking for help making a decision as to whether or not to get the coronavirus vaccine.
So I thought I would share an edited version of my response to her here.
My personal position on this since the beginning has been to support my immune system and wear a mask, etc. Larry and I pretty much stay within a very small circle in our community and don’t go to gatherings with unknown people. Every day we go to a our small produce stand down the street, and I go to a chiropractor now and physical therapy. We occasionally go buy lumber or something as we build our tiny house, but that’s it. We have very little exposure to others. When we do have to be out and about, we wear our masks.
So far so good.
The key thing for me is to support my immune system, which is always a good idea. Here is a link to the post I wrote on this subject last year and it still applies: LIFELY: How to Support Your Immune System.
The last time Larry and I had anything contagious was November 2019. We had a very strange episode of something like intestinal flu, but very extreme. After the fact, we wondered if it was covid, and have had nothing since. About six months ago we both got a covid text and both were negative.
Larry and I often do the same things, but on the vaccine our decisions are different.
Since Larry has had a heart attack, he’s decided to get the vaccine because he has a higher risk. And I support his decision.
I’ve decided to not get the vaccine and continue my successful actions.
If I was an essential worker being exposed to the public, I might choose differently.
What it comes down to for me is that Nature provides our bodies with immune systems to protect our bodies from harmful exposures such as viruses. If our immune systems are working as designed and intended, our immune systems would handle covid. But most people have insufficient immune systems due to exposure to toxic chemicals in their homes and workplaces, poor nutrition from eating industrial food, smoking, recreational drugs, and the like.
Larry and I in general make choices to live according to Nature. Vaccines are an industrial product that is part of the whole industrial system of using industrial products to solve the problems of industrial lifestyle, rather than improving the condition of the living organism by living according to Nature.
It’s my preference to act with Nature first, but I have been known to take the industrial medicine route to save my life.
It’s your decision. Only you can decide the best route here based on your body condition and exposures.
Regarding travel, perhaps we will be able to travel if we test negative even without vaccination. We have friends currently living in Spain as legal residents. She is American, her husband is a citizen of another European country who has applied for U.S. citizenship, and they will not be getting the vaccine. They say Spanish citizens qualify first and vaccination is not required for travel within the EU. They both have serious concerns about the vaccine. In a Facebook post, it showed a ticket line at the airport with social distancing and masks and then on board, with everyone sitting inches from each other. It is not logical. That is not to say I am eager to fly and be in such proximity. I’m not.
As many of you, I have too many health issues and too many concerns and unanswered questions to schedule an appointment. Boosting our immune systems is the only thing that makes sense to me. Sugar is a big deal, by the way. Thanks for mentioning it. I struggle with a sweet tooth but not daily. If I stay away from temptation (bakeries), I’m OK. We don’t make desserts at home. I also have to be careful about the number of hours between meals because as a pre-diabetic, my blood sugar plunges and I get the shakes. It comes on all of a sudden and then I head for a quick fix (a cookie). We have done the elimination diet several times and sugar cravings go away after about a week. We always feel so much better without gluten, sugar, and dairy. We don’t drink cow’s milk but we do drink goat’s milk and eat sheep and goat yoghurt (plain). It’s more easily digestible. Warning! Plain sheep’s yoghurt is the tartest I’ve ever tasted. Praying and meditation, for us, is part of being healthy. Mending estranged relationships will also boost your immune system. Forgiveness is a major nutrient. Thank you all for this discussion. I don’t feel so alone in my decision.
Thank you so much for sharing your views on the covid vaccine, and boosting our immune systems. One of the things that I try to do is to eliminate sugar from my diet, as I am prone to inflammation. I have mcs, post-heart attack with a stent, and lately have idiopathic angiodema episodes where my face swells up like a balloon. I don’t think that I will get a vaccine, but like you, I wear a mask when I go anywhere, use my hand sanitizer after shopping, wash my hands frequently, as does my husband. He feels that he will be getting the vaccine at some point. I hope that the herd immunization factor does happen and those of us who choose not to be vaccinated will be safe, or safer.
Keep up the excellent work, Debra! Can’t thank you enough.
You’re welcome.
I think it will all work out. Those who do get the vaccine will help the overall spread. Those of us who don’t get it because we are creating strong immune systems also likewise will not be spreading it.
This is remotely related (maybe more) but I am in that 15-20% of the population with an extreme allergy to nickel. I told the heart surgeon at the Mayo Clinic that he could not re-bind my ribs with surgical steel because of my nickel allergy. He said, “Well, that’s what we use.” He said the only other material he has used was for babies and children but never in adults. It is a poly-fiber. He asked what my symptoms were and I said severe contact dermatitis with oozing clear liquid and scabbing over that took a month to heal. He sent me to a dermatologist/allergist who confirmed a case of an adult woman (51) who had constant pain in her chest for a year after open heart surgery. They opened her chest, removed the SS sutures, and her chest pain resolved. I just know that I am very sensitive to chemicals and medications so I am not getting the vaccine. I will do everything to boost my immune system which seems strong in many ways (no flu, colds). We take C, D3, K2, zinc, quercetin, magnesium, Omega 3s, CoQ10, astaxanthin, among others. All are reviewed by my cardiologist and naturopath. We don’t take anything randomly or carelessly. We continue to eat organic food, flesh that is humanely raised, no hormones or antibiotics, eggs that are organic/free-range and pasture raised (yes, it’s worth it to pay a premium price for them), lots of vegetables and salads with many ingredients even with breakfast. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.” PS – I’m 77 years old.
i would agree your comment is related.
For me it goes to the point of everything industrial comes from a viewpoint that all consumers are identical and everything they produce is OK for everyone. But it’s not, as you and I know. Every body is unique and has its own needs. And so we each need to make decisions for ourselves.
Hi Debra,
Thanks for writing and posting this article. You are right, there are lots of articles about the vaccine, but very few on how to boost your immune system. You offer a refreshing and well written perspective on how to think about the vaccine.
Thank you, this is just the article I was looking for!
Michelle
You’re welcome! 🙂
My husband and I are reluctant to get the vaccine and take a “wait and see” approach.
I have four risk factors and still don’t want to take a chance.
I’m with you on strengthening the immune system. Neither of us get the flu vaccine and we have not had flu, if ever, in over 30 years. My husband has never had a flu vaccine; I have had one as a mandate of employment when I was a clerical supervisor adjacent to an AIDS clinic. One in my life.
We eat very healthy food cooked at home and take proven supplements. Our water is filtered removing fluoride and we have air filtration in all rooms. We don’t use toxic chemicals in our garden or to clean our home. We read and listen to information about the vaccines and do not wish to join the millions who are getting vaccinated.
We also realize that, according to our attorney in an informal inquiry, that our mobility will be restricted (no traveling to Europe to those left in our families). We wear masks and are careful about our physical contact. We keep distance in talking with our neighbors and those we encounter during grocery shopping.
We are not anti-vaxxers but are conscientious what we put into our bodies. I have a serious genetic heart condition and have had a mild heart attack because of it. I have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy only discovered when I was 67. Open heart surgery to remove a large muscular obstruction saved my life.
Be well, safe and always question mainstream recommendations.
PS – I am extremely sensitive to medication and allergic to four families of antibiotics.
I agree with you. 🙂
I don’t know yet about the ingredients in the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, but I have seen the ingredients for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and they both have petroleum products in them (Polyethylene glycol) – this is the main ingredient in anti-freeze. The info I have says the amount of polyethylene glycol n the vaccine is tiny, but people with chemical sensitivities can react to minuscule amounts of any chemical – so this eliminates most if not all of us with mcs. We all just have to be careful – wear our mask, etc. My doctor said that hopefully when most people get their vaccines, there will be herd immunity, and those who haven’t gotten the vaccine will be okay. I can only hope for this.
I agree with you. For someone with MCS the chemicals in the vaccine may be worse than whatever protection the vaccine may provide.