I am a physician, and I am not planning to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. I have more questions than I think will be answered by the time it is offered to me. I won’t rule out the possibility that I might change my mind as more information becomes available, but it feels both vulnerable and important to share my views. I think conversations on this topic are needed, and I hope that my writing contributes to healthy communications.

    My first question is whether the term “vaccine” is the right one for this injectable therapy. In my experience, when a vaccine is administered, it contains the antigenic component to which the immune system is sensitized. With this new mRNA technology, the antigen isn’t created until our own cells build the spike protein from the synthesized gene. I think a more accurate description than “vaccine” would be “gene therapy”.

    The metaphor that comes to mind, is that of Roundup-ready wheat. We have genetically modified those organisms with a gene that protects them from the poison glyphosate. Then, farmers can spray their fields with the roundup which kills all the plant life except for the genetically altered product which is grown as a commodity. I’m not saying the mRNA is inserted from the injection into our genome, just that it was synthesized and now involved in our cellular machinery. Still, I can hear the critics now, who believe that without our level of production of these commodities, that an opponent of Roundup must be against farmers and that the result of these dreams must surely worsen world hunger. Not so, I say. To bring the analogy back, I want patients to be defended from the Coronavirus with adequate vitamin D levels, with exercise and good sleep, stress management, and healthy relationships. I don’t want to ignore or minimize the growing death count from the Coronavirus. But I don’t think the new vaccine is the only option for defense.

    Back in the metaphorical territory, I believe, optimistically, in the opportunity of regenerative agriculture. There is a lot of hard work involved in raising crops in a way that nourishes both the land and our bodies, and the path forward I see involves a lot more of it done by a new generation who realizes that we need to get off the doomsday path we are on with fossil fuel use and environmental exploitation and degradation.

    There is more to say about the new “vaccine”. As a millennial doc, who finished medical school in 2016, I am plugged into the Facebook network, and I see proud selfies of so many of my former classmates and colleagues who are doing what they think is right to promote the public image of this product that is sold as “safe and effective.” I wonder how they know? Do they accept Pfizer’s and Moderna’s study results as presented? Do they simply trust Anthony Fauci or their professors and peers?

    When I look at the study, I see the heralded results of course. But I also notice that the study group was only monitored for 2 months. The tool they used to measure the difference in their treatment and placebo arms was the PCR test, which has its own limitations worth serious consideration. For now, I am just interested to know, what is the risk of autoimmune conditions down the road? Not 2 months down the road, but 2 years? Because remember, our immune system isn’t targeting the antigenic protein that is injected, it is targeting a protein that was created by our own cells. How does this protein get out of the cell? Does it not get tagged with any MHC “self” markers? Can we be sure that both the mRNA and the protein break down or are eliminated from the body after the injection? How long do those myocytes live with the active mRNA producing spike proteins?

    In another essay, I could talk about why so few physicians would speak out about the vaccine. I could talk about the ones who do and why they are so marginalized. For now, I’ll come back to the Roundup metaphor. Consuming those products won’t kill you. Some integrative doctors might talk about how glyphosate affects the gut lining and so on, but it’s not imminently dangerous to ingest their products. And, in my perspective, I don’t think it is a good idea. Which is where I land on the vaccine as well. I want to support the young people doing the hard work of biodynamic farming, or regenerative agriculture, aiming in the direction of a sustainable and thriving planet. I don’t think the Pfizer/Moderna product applied to 7.8 billion human bodies is a wise approach to the challenges we face.