Why Did I Choose to Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19? Part I.

 

Parashat Vayikra

Although I don’t consider myself extreme, I’ve been seriously health conscious most of my life.  Yet, I’m certainly moderate compared to some of my raw-food dietitian mentors, such as Shoshanna Harrari, but that, of course, is all relative. I try to eat organic, for the most part. I will never consume inorganic grapes or strawberries since they are especially heavily sprayed with poisonous pesticides. The other day, my husband bought me a fresh-squeezed juice at a juice bar in the Yehuda Market of Jerusalem. However, since it included strawberry juice, I wouldn’t touch it. So, he gave the Nis-20 juice away to a passerby. I also avoid medicine like the plague. I don’t recall ever having taken as much as an aspirin. My medicine cabinet includes valerian, passionflower, sage, elderberries, and thyme. I laugh, when my husband, the doctor, tells me about new medical research, proving the benefits of various herbs, that we in the herbal community knew about all along. 

Why am I telling you all this? Being an environmentalist, who lives a holistic life, would naturally place me in the anti-vaccine camp, but I am not a conformer to any kind of herd mentality. I try to remain not only an independent thinker, but I also follow my heart and my inner intuition. Having to make a decision about the COVID-19 vaccination came upon me suddenly and unexpectedly. Less than three months after I first realized the choice before me, I find myself one of the 6% of Bat Ayin residents, who have received two vaccination doses. It’s already been a while after the second dose, and despite the horror stories told on the web, we, Baruch Hashem, still remain alive to tell the story. 

So, I will try to share with you here, why, despite being a person who avoids modern medicine as much as possible, I decided to get vaccinated against COVID-19. This, notwithstanding the sea of anti-Vaxxer warning YouTubes, I’ve been flooded with by my herbal community. Since there is so much to say, and you may not have time to read to the end, I will encapsulate here the main decisive factor that convinced me to make the sacrifice and take the risk of the vaccination. The main Torah principle I live by is: that no matter what, saving lives overrides everything else. To save lives, we are even permitted to break the holy Shabbat, so surely, we must be willing to take future health risks for the sake of saving current lives. 

What is the Torah Criteria for Deciding Who to Trust When Truth is Absent 

One of the signs of the forthcoming redemption is ‘conflicting information overload.’ It is becoming more and more difficult to tell truth from lies, as it states, “In the times of the approach of Mashiach, impudence will increase… and truth will become absent” (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 49b). This notion explains why so many people today are being misinformed about the COVID-19 vaccines. Not being a scientist, I’m unqualified to investigate the biochemical operations of the various vaccines available and decipher the real truth about vaccines, as Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, one of the greatest current Zionist halachic authorities in Israel, writes: “There is no point in reading articles refuting the vaccine because a non-professional reader has no ability to assess the arguments and check the data…” Yet, having received a solid Torah foundation helped me decide whom to trust. Jewish law mandates trusting medical experts on medical issues. For example, on Yom Kippur, a sick person must be fed according to the decision of a medical expert (Mishna Yoma 82a). Even when the patient himself doesn’t want to eat, but a physician – even a non-Jew – says that he has to eat, the patient must be given food as directed by the doctor, provided he is a מוּמְחֶה/mumche – ‘expert’ (Shulchan Aruch Harav 618:2). What is the halachic criterion for determining who is an ‘expert’? Simply, an expert is someone endorsed by other experts. A medical expert is a well-known specialist in his field or someone who has published scientific articles, that are endorsed and cited by other medical experts. The Torah instructs us that in matters of medicine, we must act in accordance with the majority of doctors. The vast majority of doctors, who are experts in maintaining health, hold that it is very important to be vaccinated. Therefore, it is a mitzvah to listen to them (Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Vaccination against the Corona Virus, January 1, 2021). I resonate with Rabbi Eliezer Melamed’s attitude, to give leeway to doctors and specialists, who oppose the vaccine, to prove their point. “It would be valuable if they delved into their research and attempted to prove their position – perhaps they could benefit the entire world… In any case, the ones who need to determine whether the claims of those who oppose the vaccine are convincing, are the majority of experts in the field of medicine” (Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Ibid.). Today, through social media, any charismatic charlatan can say whatever he feels like to thousands of people through his YouTube channel. But, why should I believe him or her? What is the reliability of such and such so-called expert? Who endorsed them and their ‘scientific’ articles? 

Checking the Credibility of Some Anti-Vaxxers  

Actually, the multitude of Anti-Vaxxer messages I receive, are mainly YouTube broadcasts, rather than published scientific articles. I didn’t find any of their scientific articles published in reputable medical journals. Their names do not appear in accepted medical platforms such as PubMed; MedScape; WebMD; WHO; American Medical Association etc. To this, you may respond that these are all agents of the accepted medical establishment, who work for ‘Big Pharma’ and are part of the conspiracy to control humanity. I can only answer, that the consensus among past and present halachic authorities, is that these are the medical experts that must be relied upon in medical issues. In addition, I personally know many physicians, who could be considered part of the so-called ‘conspiracy,’ and I can tell you, that none of them have yet grown horns.

On the other hand, the ‘conspiracy believers’ do not get such good reviews to their credit. For example, Sherri Tenpenny is an American osteopath and anti-vaccination activist, who supports the disproved hypothesis that vaccines cause autism. She is the author of four books, opposing vaccination. Her 2015 lecture tour of Australia was canceled due to a public outcry over her views on vaccination, which go against the established scientific consensus. Dr. Tenpenny’s opinions, while disproved by science and criticized by medical experts, are not against the law and should be allowed a forum.  (Anti-vaccination views are misguided - but not illegal. Sydney Morning-Herald. 11 January 2015). 

V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai (born Vellayappa Ayyadurai Shiva, is an engineer, politician, entrepreneur, and promoter of conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and unfounded medical claims (Breland, Ali. Wellness Influencers are Spreading Qanon Conspiracies About the Coronavirus). Ayyadurai makes the widely disputed claim to have invented email (Kolawole Emi, February 17, 2012). Similar disapproval has been given to most of the other sources sent to me, by well-meaning friends, from my wellness community. A comprehensive listing is beyond the scope of this article.  

Comparing Numbers of Who Died from What 

Responding to all the anti-Vaxxer claims, I’ve heard and read, could fill several books. Therefore, I’m just choosing to discuss a few claims, concerning which I just cannot remain silent. I was shocked by what I heard on Sherri Tenpenny’s YouTube warning, against the danger of the COVID-19 vaccine. Who is she to make a prophecy of doom that everyone who gets the vaccine will die within a year? This kind of scare-technique goes against all medical ethics and certainly has not been verified. The Phase 3 clinical trial of BNT162b2 began on July 27 and enrolled 43,661 participants.  As of November 13, 2020, 41,135  have received a second dose of the vaccine. This is more than four months ago when according to Tenpenny they were already supposed to have experienced the severe fatal symptoms. Tenpenny’s claim, that an outrageous number of ‘vaccine victims’ who already ‘died’ of anaphylactic shock immediately after receiving the vaccine, is also completely incorrect. Out of 13,794,904 people who received the vaccine, a total of 113 deaths were reported to VAERS, 65% of which were among LTCF [Long-term Care Facilities] residents. This is a death rate of 0.00081914 % of those vaccinated. Compare this number with the  3% death rate of those infected with COVID-19 globally! That’s more than a 10.000% higher mortality! There seems to be a double standard among the Anti-Vaxxers. Regarding those who died after receiving the vaccine, they maintain that the vaccine caused their death, but concerning those who died of COVID-19 it is claimed: “The number of deaths that have actually been caused by COVID-19 is entirely speculative. There have been countless reports from all over the world that hospitals have been listing COVID as the cause of death, even when patients died of entirely unrelated causes…” 

Is the Current Pandemic Invented by Big Pharma? 

Time and again, I had to listen to people claiming that there is no pandemic! “Whistleblowers have reported being instructed to list COVID as the cause of death if even a tiny, harmless trace of the virus was found in the body.” Oh, come on! Do I really have to document that hospitals the world over are filled to the brim with Corona patients, and many have been running out of drugs, beds and ventilators? How can anyone claim that there is no pandemic when more than 2½ million people have passed away of COVID-19? Who doesn’t know someone who has succumbed to this terrible plague? To those who claim that although Rabbi, Dr. Avraham Twerski died from Corona at the age of 90, he was old and would have died anyway, I will counter, that without COVID-19, He may possibly have lived another year or even decade, granting the world another brilliant book or even ten! 

Stay tuned for Part II of this article, which will be featured next week, Parashat Tzav. It will discuss the following topics: Has the COVID-19 vaccine been properly tested? What do the Rabbis Say? Torah Sources on vaccinations, and finally I will share what personally convinced me to get vaccinated.