Before I begin I want to make one thing very clear, I am not here to tell you to get, or not to get vaccinated, but I am going to beg that you are responsible for the choice you make.

If you are vaccinated against COVID-19, you still need to take precautions against spreading the virus.

If you are not vaccinated against COVID-19, you still need to take precautions against spreading the virus.

JNemchinova
JNemchinova
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Quite simply, we are all in this together, and I am beyond over the fights that are erupting, and the frustrations that are mounting over the Rockford-area community's vaccination status. To get, or not to get vaccinated, is a personal choice and all the bickering going on now about the COVID vaccine is putting us dangerously close to an economic shutdown again, and that cannot happen.

Here are two things that really set my COVID frustration level over the top this week:

  1. Winnebago County is in the midst of COVID-19 surge. Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of OSF Healthcare St. Anthony, Dr. Stephen Bartlett recently told mystateline.com; "We are having a COVID surge. “It’s beginning to have an impact and stress on health care workers and the nurses. We needed to recruit staff because the nursing, doctor ranks were decimated by COVID". My husband works in the emergency department at another Rockford hospital, and I can tell you without a doubt that he is tired and overworked.
  2. Hospital beds in Rockford are full. My mother has been waiting months for a knee replacement surgery she desperately needs, and she was finally going to get it this Wednesday. On Monday she received a call from the hospital scheduler saying they had to cancel her surgery this week because they have no beds available, and 30 other people in the ER waiting for beds to become available.

I get it, people get sick, and people can still get COVID after being vaccinated, but this problem doesn't really have to do with the shot. It has to do with people refusing to chip in to stop the spread, and by that, I mean wearing a mask in public and acknowledging that COVID is a real problem whether you're vaccinated or not. Can we please stop wasting our time fighting and judging personal choices and freedoms and just exercise some caution?  PLEASE?!?

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