| "Selfish." That's how Andrew Ulrich describes people who refuse to be vaccinated. Ulrich, by the way, is not just an emergency room doctor with 30 years of experience, he's also the medical director for Yale New Haven Health's emergency room. "It's selfish because it's not like seatbelts," he said. If you choose not to wear a seatbelt and get into an accident, that choice is going to affect you and you alone. But, "If you choose not to get the vaccine, that affects everybody around you, and that's selfish." There are, he said, legitimate reasons not to get vaccinated against COVID. Some people have had severe allergies to other vaccines, or are so immunocompromised that a vaccine is unsafe. "That's a very very small number of people," he said. There are communities of color that have mistrust in the medical establishment for good reason, or people who have some personal, negative experience with vaccines. Those are people with whom conversations can be had, Ulrich said, and sometimes they are convinced. Then there is "the other group that are so ignorant and so resistant they don't want to hear anything because their side says, 'This is bad,'" he said. "You have the ability to help all of us by doing your part, which is to get vaccinated. We couldn't have made it easier." Ulrich sees people from all those groups in the emergency room, unvaccinated and COVID-positive. He cares for them without favor, but he did express "anger" and "frustration" at the more recalcitrant among them. "The reality is you're talking about adults who should have the ability to make smart decisions. At some point people need to take personal responsibility," he said. "The vaccine is available and it was there to protect you and you should not be surprised if you got sick and you didn't take advantage of the vaccine." "We should be able to put aside out political beliefs and do what's right for all of us," he said. By Jordan Fenster. Questions? Comments? Send an email to jordan.fenster@hearstmediact.com. If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Reminder: The full version of this newsletter will soon be available only to readers who subscribe to CT Insider or one of the Hearst Connecticut Media Group local news sites. An abbreviated version of the newsletter with our top stories will remain free to readers who don't subscribe. If you already subscribe, thanks for supporting our work. If you don't, please consider a subscription. | 
Comments
Post a Comment