TO JAB OR NOT TO JAB — THAT IS THE QUESTION…

ON MY WAY TO HAVE MY JAB…

This week I had my first jab to offer me, hopefully, some protection from Covid19 and it made me reflect on the hope that it offers. I’m lucky I have not suffered from coronvirus yet to my knowledge.

There are many people I know who are reluctant, or who are flatly refusing to have the jab, for a number of reasons. Many of them I respect and understand why and at the moment in the UK, there’s no legal requirement for them to have it.

So why did I jump at the chance? Why did I not feel the need to question it? Will I regret it later?

The truth is I don’t know if this decision will come back to bite me later. I do not accept wild conspiracy theories about the jab being ‘gene therapy’ or other similar nonsense. The truth is I’ve always believed that prevention is better than cure. This goes right back to my childhood and it’s not about trust in the ‘system’ either. This is something much deeper.

It was only two generations ago that many members of my family died from illnesses which simply don’t exist now — or are easily treated now. These viruses and diseases often affected those who were poor and my family are from a hard-working yet very low income background. We are seeing exactly the same pattern now — this virus is impacting those in poverty disproportionately and this was always the case.

FIRST QUEUE FOR MY JAB

This hit home for me a few years ago when the power of social media connected me with a distant family member from Australia. As it happened this lady, Steph, was coming to the UK and we actually met up.

We spent a day together and I was able to take her to the church and graveyard where our common great great great grandparents and ancestors were buried. When we got there, this beautiful little rural church hidden away in deepest Somerset, she said ‘where are their headstones?’ and I said ‘there are no headstones the family were too poor, their remains are somewhere in this area’. There’s no doubt she was disappointed. However how disappointing it must have been to bury your loved ones in a plot of land for the poor? No affirmation, no proof of existence, a patch of…