Modesto family doctors: COVID vaccines enable our bodies’ God-given healing

It has been our joy to serve the Modesto community for nearly 40 years as family doctors at Cornerstone Family Medical Group. We have sought to provide excellent medical care and fulfill our Christian calling to treat each person with compassion and ethical values.

Through our entire medical careers we have seldom felt as compelled to address a question as we do this one that is asked us every day in our clinics, churches, or civic groups: “What is your position on COVID-19 vaccines?”

We add our voices to those of many other physicians who publicly recommend vaccinations against the COVID-19 virus. The dangers posed by infections seem underestimated by many people we talk to. Why?

It is widely known that almost 600,000 people have perished in the U.S. from this viral illness. Less understood is that a much larger group of people survive the illness but suffer long-term harm that diminish the quality of their lives.

Scarred lungs, damaged hearts, reduced kidney function, and various afflictions of the brain and nervous system plague numerous survivors of moderate to severe COVID-19 illness. A different problem called “long COVID” syndrome strikes younger adults. In these cases, even after mild illness, many victims battle continuing fatigue, brain fog and other disabling symptoms for a prolonged period.

In the six months since the mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna became available in the United States, follow-up studies from across Europe and the U.S. show that these vaccines have almost 100% effectiveness in preventing serious illness and death, while greatly diminishing the likelihood of symptomatic infections. That is a remarkable outcome!

Side effects from the vaccines were expected, since they stimulate our immune system to respond as if a viral germ is invading our bodies. While serious reactions have rarely occurred, their number is dwarfed by the number of people saved from death and serious illness.

Vaccines also provide safety for others. Many of us have started to take off our masks and resumed gathering with friends and family. Yet there are many still vulnerable to COVID-19. Some have been vaccinated, but their immune systems are weak. Examples are those currently being treated for cancer, and frail, elderly grandparents.

Unvaccinated children are another susceptible group. Vaccines reduce the rate of passing the virus to somebody else by up to 80%. This protection is enough to stop the COVID-19 virus from finding the vulnerable among us, as long as most of us (including children) are fully vaccinated. We protect our neighbors when we get vaccinated.

Variant strains of the COVID-19 virus recently coming to California from the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa, and India threaten to cause another severe wave of illness in Modesto when cold weather returns in November. Since the vaccines produce very high levels of immunity, they appear to be effective in preventing serious illnesses and deaths even from these more resistant variants.

Freedom always comes with responsibilities. Those of us who want to continue the less-restrictive lifestyle promised should make sure that we and our loved ones are vaccinated. This will limit the ability of the coronavirus to spread or further mutate, mitigating the risk of another COVID-19 surge and the consequent need for more restrictive precautions.

Doctors, in a real sense, do not heal. We simply use medical treatments to facilitate the natural God-given healing mechanisms of the human body. We did not invent messenger RNA or antibodies or killer T cells. Vaccines work by giving a kick start to our immune system so that it can do the work it was designed to do by our Creator.

We urge our community to be safe, to protect one another, and to be thankful for the protection that vaccines give us.