Opinion piece

Why we should be talking about Covid RECOVERY, not Covid SURVIVAL

Arguments by anti-vaccine advocates typically touch on natural immunity and survival rate statistics, missing the point.

Anytime I venture to the comments section in a “debate” between Covid pro- and anti-vaxxers, the counterargument by anti-vaxxers often includes a statement to the effect: “why vaccinate against a disease that has a 99% survival rate”.

Let’s for a moment disregard the fact that 1% of the world population is a lot of dead people. Let’s instead focus on the concept of “survival”.

What does it mean to survive something?

Survival is just that. It means whatever hit you didn’t result in you being dead. That’s it. You’re still alive. Let’s unpack that. Think of other things “survivors” may have survived:

• burns over 75% of your body — scar tissue, pain whenever you move for the rest of your life
• losing limbs in a IED explosion — PTSD, mental anguish, physical pain, no ability to resume many of the activities that brought you joy
• sexual abuse or rape — fear, self-loathing, PTSD, dissociation, difficulties with intimacy, trust
• a motorcycle accident that leaves you a quadriplegic — inability to do the things you love, a lifetime of depending on machines, pressure sores, infections

Shall I go on?

For some lucky ones Covid is not a big deal, but for many “survivors” the repercussions include permanent lung, liver, kidney and brain damage.

At this point in the pandemic even those who oppose vaccination effort will have heard about “long Covid” sometimes called “post-Covid syndrome”. Some of the typical symptoms are outlined in the graphic below.

I personally know several vibrant, young people, with zero comorbidities like heart disease or diabetes, in great physical shape (one ran a successful yoga studio for a couple decades) who are shadows of their old selves months after they caught the virus. They may possibly never recover.

We should be looking at RECOVERY statistics, not SURVIVAL statistics when measuring the real impact of Covid.

But because we keep talking about survival, those who resist the vaccine continue to underestimate the impact of the disease.