VACCINE HESITANCY

You REALLY Should Not “Fight Off COVID Naturally”

So many people are now suffering chronic, long-term health problems after COVID. You need to get vaccinated.

Dr. Hesham A. Hassaballa
ILLUMINATION
Published in
3 min readNov 7, 2021

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Photo by CDC on Unsplash

I’m more comfortable with naturally fighting [Covid-19] off than taking a shot that they said [is] 99% effective and no risk, to then track back and say we missed something.

This is how someone close to me explained why he didn’t get vaccinated against Covid-19. There is so much to unpack in that statement, but the main point to which I want to respond is this: “I’m more comfortable with naturally fighting [Covid-19]…

You REALLY, REALLY, REALLY don’t want to do that.

A large research study that was published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association detailed both short- and long-term effects of “naturally fighting off Covid-19.” It is substantial.

The paper reviewed 57 studies published between December 2019 and March 2021, reporting the health consequences of more than 250,000 survivors of Covid-19 . 79% of these patients were hospitalized for Covid-19.

More than half, 54%, had at least one long-term health consequence as a result of Covid-19 one month later. 55% had chronic…

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Dr. Hesham A. Hassaballa
ILLUMINATION

NY Times featured Pulmonary and Critical Care Specialist | Physician Leader | Author and Blogger | His latest book is “Code Blue,” a medical thriller.