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I’m ready to take the Covid-19 vaccine. I’m ready to be done with Covid-19, and the widespread administration of an effective vaccine is the best hope for closing the book on this pandemic.

The vaccine may allow us all to resume what we used to consider normal activities :  worshipping together in church; supporting the small businesses and local restaurants that are the backbone of our community; supporting our vibrant arts scene by attending concerts, plays, and art exhibitions.

The vaccine should allow our schools, courts and civic institutions to function as they should, so that all citizens can be served.

The approval by the US Food and Drug Administration last week and the arrival this week of the Pfizer vaccine is best news of the year, and it is certainly something we should all celebrate.

More good news may be on the way, with other vaccines in the pipeline for approval very soon.

I realize that I am pretty far down the list for the vaccine, because my age, job description, and underlying health don’t place me in the priority categories.

But make no mistake; I’m ready, willing, and able to take the vaccine on the first opportunity. Advances of modern medicine mean that people today can live longer and healthier than at any time in human history.

Vaccines are one of the great success stories of modern medicine.

Smallpox, polio, tetanus, and measles are human diseases that have practically been relegated to the history books because of vaccines.

I’m ready to relegate Covid-19 to the history books.

Thanks to modern medicine and pioneering inventors such as Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk, and hundreds of others, many dreaded diseases no longer affect humanity.

Today’s researchers and scientists at Pfizer, Moderna, and other pharmaceutical companies have even more knowledge about viruses and vaccines and molecular biology than any of those pioneering inventors.

Today’s regulators at the Food and Drug Administration have stronger safety protocols for new medicines and vaccines than ever before.

The clinical data that each of the vaccine manufacturers has shared publicly and with regulators throughout the development process demonstrates the effectiveness and safety of the Covid vaccine.

Throughout the Covid pandemic, I have spoken regularly to local health care providers, and I have consistently tried to follow their guidance.

Our local physicians tell me that they will be taking the vaccine and will be recommending it to their patients.

I encourage everyone to follow the advice of their own physician as it relates to their own health profile.

I intend to follow their advice.

And I’m taking the vaccine as soon as it’s available to me.

 

• JIM THORNTON LaGrange Mayor